Everything Ends
by J-Bob the Brave
Summary: Dan enters the small town of Hinamizawa, to find it's not as small and simple as he first thought. Long suppressed emotions and memories return to haunt him as the story unfolds. Recently revised! Note added...
1. Chapter 1

Everything ends…differently

(When the Cicadas Cry Fan-Fiction)

Disclaimer: The only person I own in this story is Dan. Everything else belongs to the original writers of this anime, 07th Expansion. With that said, please enjoy the story.

Chapter 1

The small town of Hinamizawa was the kind of town that was easy to forget about. The day-to-day routine was very mundane, and easy to get yourself caught up in. It was that same fact, however, that made living in the town so enjoyable. Most everybody knew everyone else, making for a close-knit feeling – like a family. Any problem that would come up would be quickly resolved. Nothing really happens, so nothing really changes. That was, until…

"Dan! Hurry up – we're gonna be late!" Keiichi shouted.

"Keep your shirt on! I'm almost ready, frudge-own!" Dan hollered back. "Like the teacher's gonna care if were like five minutes late!"

"Actually, she probably will…" Keiichi said, scratching his head in frustration. "Some days I wonder why I agreed to having you live here."

"You're stuck with me now, so deal with it," Dan said, as he darted down the stairs. He ran by Keiichi as if he wasn't even there, snagged his bento, and flew out the door. "Now who's late?"

"Don't be such a smart-ass…" Keiichi said, as he grabbed his lunch and walked out the door. It had only been a few weeks since Dan had come into town. He could really be a pain in the ass whenever he wanted to. Most of the time, he was easy to get along with, so Keiichi was able to overlook his annoying qualities. Keiichi had just moved into town a few weeks before Dan came along, so they were both getting used to the place. The fact that they were outsiders didn't really help the transition, since the townsfolk didn't really like change. Despite that, the two had been able to make a few friends, who they generally walked to school with. Rena Ryugu, who was already friends with Keiichi from about a year ago, had moved back to the town around the same time Keiichi came back. Having at least one familiar face made the transition a little bit easier. The other girls, however, were a bit strange, in their own way. At times, they could be an even bigger pain than Dan, as far as Keiichi was concerned. Having Dan around was nice, because he could dish out crap just as fast as they could, and not think anything of it.

"Keiichi-kun!" Rena called out. "Hurry up!" Both of them quickly caught up to Rena, and stopped for a moment to catch their breath. "You've really got to work on getting here earlier, you know?"

"Well, if I didn't have to wait for Dan every morning, I'd be here earlier…"

"Oh, come on – I'm not that bad," Dan laughed.

"Yeah, you are…" Keiichi said, rolling his eyes.

"You two," Rena said, grabbing them both by the ear. "You can 'discuss' this later, we've gotta get to class."

"Hey, you're not my mom, lemme go!" Dan whined.

"If you didn't act like you were two, maybe I wouldn't have to."

"Yeah, yeah…whatever," he mumbled to himself. "So, where's everyone else?"

"They went on ahead, but we should be able to catch up if we hurry," Rena said.

"Great!" Keiichi said.

Five minutes later, they arrived at the school.

"Geez, where have you been?" Mion said.

"Oh, we decided to fool around a bit, while you weren't around, if you know what I mean," Dan said, shifting his eyebrows, and giving a big cheesy grin. Rena lit up like a Christmas tree, and Keiichi just rolled his eyes.

"Wh-whwh—what?" Rena stuttered.

"Ha ha…OMPH!" Dan groaned and fell to the ground, as he was quickly reminded of his gender with a swift kick to the groin.

"Thank you," Keiichi said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"What?" Dan muttered, "Who said you were on their side?"

"I'm not on your side, that's for sure. You really should think before you just open your mouth," Keiichi replied.

"Settle down, class," Ms. Aoki said. Slowly the class came to attention, and everyone took their seats.

"So, where were you this morning?" Mion asked.

"Dan didn't want to get out of bed this morning; he was up 'til around three a.m. doing something." He turned to face Dan, and asked, "What were you doing, anyways?"

"I was listening to my walkman, and thinking about things."

"There's probably a better time to contemplate things in your life than three a.m., you know?"

"You're probably right. There are those times, though, when you cannot get something out of your mind until you've figured it out; you know? Last night was one of those nights." Dan groaned as he reached into his backpack, and pulled out a 'Big Rig.' Immediately, he started chugging it.

"Those are gonna kill you one day," Keiichi said.

"Yeah, and you can dance on my grave when it does."

"That's not funny."

"Then be…OW!" Dan was cut off mid-sentence, as an eraser pegged him in the back of the head. The whole class laughed, and Dan sat back in his seat, facing forward, and his head down in shame.

"Now that I have everyone's attention, let's continue," Ms. Aoki said, resuming her lecture.

"We'll finish this conversation when we have some free time," Mion said. Keiichi nodded, and faced forward as well.

***

Dan took his bento out of his pack, and started devouring his food, as if he hadn't eaten for the past week. Before anyone else had pulled out his or her own lunch, he had finished his, and started pounding down his energy drink again.

"Damn Dan, a little hungry?" Keiichi asked.

"A little bit," he said, chuckling to himself. He started eyeing Keiichi's lunch, and slowly began reaching for it.

"Don't even think about it, or I'll kick your ass."

"Hmph," Dan grunted, "Fine."

"So, what was holding you up this morning?" Mion asked.

"Well, Dan wouldn't get up, so I went and had some breakfast. By the time I finished, he had just got into the bathroom, and was taking a shower to wake himself up."

"It kinda worked," Dan said, still in a bit of a daze.

"Yeah, well there was only cold water left by the time you got out, I hope you know," Keiichi moaned. "You should have taken the cold shower, it would have worked better."

"But I like warm water more," Dan said, laughing. "Thanks for the squid, by the way,"

"Why you little…!" Keiichi growled, grabbing Dan by the throat, and shook him around a bit. "I was saving that for later!"

"You snooze, you lose!"

"Give it back!"

"I don't think you really DO want it back…"

"Would you two shut up?" Mion asked, popping their heads together. The two got back to their senses, and settled down.

"So, what's on the agenda for the after school meeting today?" Rena asked.

"We had a card game planned and a little surprise round of the 'punishment' game as well," Mion said, grinning sinisterly.

"Oh, I can't wait," Dan said, rolling his eyes.

"It's your own fault. If you weren't late this morning, we'd have decided to go easy on you." Everyone shot daggers at Dan, and he shrunk into his seat.

"What the hell? You only have to worry about it if you lose, you know?" Dan said. That seemed to settle the others down somewhat.

"Was there anything else we wanted to do today?"

"Well, I had a thought, but not for today," Dan said.

"What's that?" Mion asked.

"Why don't we have a picnic tomorrow, it being the weekend and all?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Rena said, "I'll make some sandwiches, and a few other snacks. Do you want to bring some drinks?" she asked Dan.

"Sure, I think I can swing that." Dan reached into his pack, pulled out a second bento, and handed it to Keiichi. "You can have this one since I stole most of yours."

"Thanks," he said, as he started devouring it.

"No problem." He looked over at Satoko and Rika, who hadn't said anything the entire time. "Are you two doing alright?"

"We're fine, we were just having fun watching you bicker with everyone," Rika said.

"Right…" Dan said, feeling an odd sensation fill the room. "You can't wait for the game, can you?" The two girls grinned, and laughed eerily. "I'm beginning to wonder if God forgot the 'everything nice' part when he made you two…" The two girls' expressions changed from evil content to clear anger. Dan got terribly nervous, stood up, and started for the door. "I'll be right back, gotta go to the restroom…" He barely shut the door as he heard a chair hit it from the other side. "You're only proving my point, you know?"

"You'll get yours soon enough," Satoko said.

"We'll see about that," Dan said, poking his head back inside the classroom. "I'm feeling kinda lucky today, you know?"

"Just wait, and we'll see who's 'lucky', and who isn't," Satoko said, hurling another random object at Dan's head, which he quickly dodged.

"Kids," Rika said.

***

"I don't believe it," Satoko said. "How could you have won five times in a row?" Dan just grinned, and cracked his knuckles.

"You think you're the only one who has a 'system' in this card game – I might act dumb, but I'm smart enough to figure out when you've been winning non-stop, what's going on."

"How'd you do it then?" Mion asked.

"I'm surprised you didn't notice, but these are MY cards – I switched your cards out before we started." The girls all glared at him, like a lion ready to go in for the kill. "Hey! Don't dish it out if you can't take it back! That's what I say…" Before he could continue, the girls latched onto him, and gave him a good beating.

"That takes care of Dan, now it's just us," Mion said, taking her pack of cards from Dan's bag.

"Poor sports," Dan groaned.

"Serves you right, switching them out without telling anyone."

"Right…" Dan said, "Taking away your ability to cheat isn't fair, but I'M not allowed to establish an equal playing field for everyone?"

"Did you say something?" Mion asked.

"Nope, not a word…"

"That's what I thought."

They put in a few more rounds, and the girls beat the tar out of the guys in the end. Mion looked both of the guys in the eyes, and laughed.

"Looks like the tables have turned!" she said. The girls began laughing in a creepy kind of way, and started closing in on Keiichi and Dan.

"Looks like I owe you twice for today," Keiichi said, glaring at Dan.

"Oh, get stuffed," Dan said. The girls looked bent on getting in touch with their sinister side, and Dan knew how crazy they could get. He didn't want to find out just how evil they could be, so he started thinking as quickly as possible. In an instant, he got an idea, lame, but anything was worth a try. He looked above the girls' heads, put on a deathly-terrified face, and shouted, "OMG! What the HELL is that?" The girls turned their heads, just long enough for Dan to pick Keiichi up, and make his getaway. They got about a quarter of a mile before Dan dropped to the ground, panting as if he was going to die. Keiichi got up, and looked back, not seeing anyone following them. He looked at Dan, who was laughing between gasping for air. "I can't…believe they…actually fell for that."

"You know they're gonna give it to us even worse next time, right?" Keiichi said.

"Oh, stop already." Dan said. "I try to do…a favor for you…and all you do…is bitch about it."

"I'm just saying…"

"I know…just stop. I'll take the heat…when they see us again. I just really didn't want to deal with any more crap today…I'm not in the mood, ya' know?"

"…I guess I understand…" Keiichi said. Dan smiled, and closed his eyes to take a nap. Keiichi looked down at him, and shook his head. "How can you sleep drinking that massive caffeine bomb?"

"Very easy, like this…zzzzzz…"

"You're such a smart ass." Keiichi looked back at the school, and didn't see anyone. "I might as well take a break myself." He reached for his backpack, but it wasn't there. He looked over at Dan, and saw that he didn't have his backpack either. He groaned, and tapped Dan on the shoulder. "Hey Dan,"

"…What is it? Did you forget something?"

"Yeah, I forgot…?" Keiichi froze, and slowly turned around. The all too familiar faces of the girls met his terrified eyes.

"What's going on?" Dan muttered.

"I think we shouldn't have stopped…"

"Huh? Why's…" Dan cracked his eyes open, and saw the girls leering over him. "Ah, shit – why now?" The girls didn't divert their attention from Dan. They weren't going to take the chance of letting him get away again. "I couldn't take a rain check on this, could I?"

"Not a chance," Mion said, reaching behind her back, and pulling out a sharpie marker.

"Well, how about a favor then?"

"What's that?"

"Leave Keiichi alone, this is my bad…" Mion stopped for a moment, looking rather confused.

"Why?"

"Well, everything was my fault today, what's a little bit more?" The other girls looked at Keiichi, who hadn't changed his facial expression since they seemingly appeared out of nowhere, then shifted back to Dan. They all collectively laughed, and held him down. He was now fully awake, and fear completely took him over. Rika pulled out a paper bag, and handed it to Mion, who looked inside, and laughed sinisterly. "What are you going to do?"

"You'll see, oh, you'll see…" Mion said. She dumped the contents of the bag, and let Dan get a good look at its contents. Dan went from a ten on the scared scale to about a sixteen, and screamed like a little girl.

"No! You wouldn't…! You couldn't…!" Mion tossed a camera to Keiichi, and winked at him. Keiichi grimaced, but didn't object. Mion looked back at Dan, who was struggling to get away, and just laughed.

"You asked for this, literally…"

"Oh, shit!"

After about 20 minutes of excruciating humiliation, and a full roll of film, Dan and the rest of the group were on their way home for the day. Dan was about twenty feet ahead of everyone else, and wasn't willing to talk to anyone. An aura around him had something to do with why everyone was so far away from him.

"Do you think we went too far?" Rika asked.

"Well, it's a slight possibility…" Mion started.

"Slight?" Dan asked, as he stopped dead in his tracks. The rest of the group stopped as well, and took a few steps back. "I'd hate to see what EXTREME would be like…" he said, turning around. Upon seeing Dan in his humbled state, they didn't know whether to feel bad, or bust out laughing. They chose the latter option, and let him have it. Dan looked like a reject from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. His mascara had run down his face from crying, which made his appearance even more comical, and sad. He had a hard time looking them in the face, and it didn't help that they had dropped to the floor, and were laughing hysterically now. "Go ahead and laugh, see if I care…You just wait until next time, I shall have my revenge…"

"Oh, whatever – like you could ever win!" Mion said, almost to the point of tears.

"Just keep telling yourself that, we'll see who'll be laughing last!" Dan said, glaring over Mion. She backed up a bit, with a slightly nervous look on her face. Dan chuckled evilly, and gave her a slightly demented look. "I wonder what I should do to you, hmm…? Maybe I should have you dress up like a cat girl, or a nurse? You'd look good as either…"

"As if!" Mion retorted, "You'd have to win first, and that'll never happen."

"Why would that be?"

"Because you suck at playing cards…"

"We're not always going to play cards, you know! I can totally school you at 'Clue'."

"Whatever…" Mion said, totally blowing him off.

"I'm sure you'll be thinking 'whatever', when you lose!" Dan said. He looked at her for a moment longer, and let out a sigh. "Ah, hell…I don't care. It's not that big a deal anyways…"

"Huh?" Mion said, turning around. "You're not mad anymore?"

"Nah – there's no point in stewing over it too long. Besides, it's not permanent – I can change & wash this ganky looking makeup off." The other girls had taken notice to Dan's change in temperament, and turned to face him. "You know, in all honesty, I would have never expected you'd try something like that – I've got a new level of respect for you now."

"Are you serious?" Mion asked, thoroughly confused.

"Serious as a heart attack," Dan said, giving her a warm smile. "I may not always come across as one of the smartest people you've met, but I do believe in admitting when I'm wrong. That, and I know a good joke when I see one." Mion blushed, and stammered for a moment. Dan smiled again, and put his hand on her shoulder, which made her jump slightly. "It's nice to have you as a friend – don't ever change, okay?"

"R-r-rrr-r-ight…" she finally sputtered out. "You, too…"

"Groovy," Dan said. "Now, if you'll excuse me – I've got some sleep to catch up on, not to mention this outfit is killing me!" Everyone laughed, and took a moment to enjoy themselves. After a few good minutes of laughing about it, everyone settled back down, and decided it was time to go home for the day. Everyone, except for Keiichi, Dan, & Rena went on their way. Dan sat down for a moment, and leaned against a tree.

"You know, Dan – I thought you'd be pretty pissed about that for a long time," Keiichi said.

"Like I said, there's no point in staying bent for something like this. Besides, I've dealt with a LOT worse before I came here – so this is no biggy, anyway…"

"Worse? Like what?" Rena asked.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Dan said, as he started to shudder at the thought about his past.

"Oh," she said, looking a bit disappointed. "Sorry to bring up a sore spot."

"No worries," Dan replied, "you didn't know. I'll tell you this much, though – there are some things that are better left in the past." Rena was wide eyed, and stared at him in disbelief.

"You're serious?" Dan gave her a look that just screamed, 'OH YEAH…'. She sat down next to him, and put her hand on his leg. Dan was too tired to notice, and started to drift into la la land. "I'm sorry. That must have been rough…"

"What's done is done." Rena looked at him for a moment, and smiled.

"You're really cute when you're sleepy – can I take you home?" Dan's eyes shot wide open, and saw Rena's lips about two inches away from his own. His face lit up like a Christmas tree, and he became frozen solid.

"What are you guys talking…?" Keiichi said, as he turned to see Rena kiss Dan, which left him at a complete loss for words. Dan's mind had completely left him, which was becoming completely obvious.

"U—u-uuu-uu-uu-h…" Rena got up, and took a few steps away, and turned back to face him.

"I take it that was the first time you've ever been kissed by a girl?" Dan remained silent as he started to drift out of consciousness completely. Within seconds, Dan was out like a light, and it didn't look like he was going to be waking up any time soon. Keiichi was just as confused as Dan was, and was trying to figure out what had just happened. Rena ran up to him, grabbed his hand, and started to drag him away.

"What was…"? Keiichi started.

"Would you come with me for a minute?" Rena asked, already leading him by the arm.

"I suppose so…what about Dan?"

"He'll be alright by himself for a while," she said, looking back at him. "There's something I'd like you to help me with."

"Uh, sure; where are we headed?"

"You'll see," Rena said.

After having walked alone for about five minutes, Keiichi started to notice where they were going.

"The city dump?" Keiichi asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah," Rena replied, starting to hop through the ruble, leaving Keiichi behind. "There's something I needed some help getting to."

"Hey, wait up!" Keiichi said, following Rena, but lacking the grace that Rena had. While Keiichi was doing his best to keep his balance, Rena was like a cat, always landing on her feet with no real difficulty.

"Don't worry; it's not too far…Ah! There it is!" Keiichi caught up, and started looking around.

"Where?"

"Down there," Rena replied.

"Huh?" A few feet down, there was a statue of Colonel Sanders, still in good condition. "That?"

"Yeah, I was looking around here the other day, and happened to notice him. He'd make a nice addition to my collection."

"I see. I forgot that you like to collect things…" Keiichi said, trying to reach for it. After a few tries, he realized it was too far down to get at. "Looks like I'll need something to clear this debris away before I can get a good handle on him."

"I'll be right back!"

"Huh? Wait up…?" Keiichi turned around, and noticed that Rena was nowhere to be seen. "Where'd she go? She was there just a moment ago…" He stepped back, and found a place to rest for a moment. The sky was a beautiful blend of reds and oranges, strewn with clouds, which looked like stretched cotton. He hadn't really taken the time since he arrived in town to just sit back, and enjoy the scenery. Now that he had, it was almost hypnotic, and everything just felt right for once. Things were certainly different now than they had been a few years ago. Before, it had really just been him and his family, just getting by, while his parents where finishing college. Rena had always just been an afterthought in the back of his mind, but still a good friend. Now that Dan and the other girls had become a part of his life, things had been set on overdrive, not even giving him a chance to sit back and 'smell the roses', so to say.

"This place is nicer than I thought, no wonder Rena enjoys coming down here…I wonder what's keeping her?"

"Uh, hello?" Keiichi leapt up, and spun around to see where the new voice had come from.

"ARGH! What are you doing?" Keiichi shouted.

"Whoa, take it easy – I didn't mean to startle you," the man said.

"Huh? Oh, that's fine…. I was expecting someone else, that's all."

"That's fine, I did come in unannounced. Although, I didn't think anyone would be down here at this time of day."

"I see," Keiichi said. "Say, what are you up to?"

"Oh, this?" the man asked, holding up his camera. "I was just going through town, taking pictures of the landscape. You see, I'm a freelance photographer, and this place has always interested me, especially around this time of year."

"This time of year?"

"You don't know about the annual Watanagashi festival?"

"No, I haven't. I just moved here a few months ago." Keiichi replied.

"Oh, I see. Well, it's a festival that's supposed to honor Oyashiro-sama – a god that most of the people in the town believe in. I'm not sure how great of a ceremony it actually is, though…"

"What do you mean?"

"Every year since the dam incident, there's been a death and a disappearance during the festival. It's generally the next day that the people are discovered missing." Keiichi's eyes widened, and his breath got shallow.

"Are you serious?"

"I wish I wasn't – but it's true." Keiichi felt light headed, and plopped down on the ground. His face was covered with terror, and the man took note of it. "I'm sorry to bust your bubble, but this place isn't all that it seems. There are more secrets around here than I feel comfortable with. I usually come here to take pictures, since the pay is good." Keiichi shook his head slowly, and kept his eyes focused on the ground.

"What the…" he mumbled, feeling sick to his stomach. He quickly shook it, and thought about what the man had mentioned a bit earlier. "What's this dam incident you're talking about?"

"When the town was established, they government was considering putting a dam in. The townspeople were strongly opposed to the idea, and fought against it. It started out as just protests, but eventually things got violent. The government finally gave it up once the director of the program was murdered…"

"Murdered?"

"Yes – it was rather gruesome, too. The director's body was chopped up into various sections, and the police still haven't found the other arm. Some people think it's buried somewhere in this junkyard." Keiichi's mind was racing, and he wished that he could reverse time, and forget that he had ever heard about it. Sadly, he knew that that wasn't a possibility. Keiichi's facial expression had deteriorated, and the man could tell that he had probably crossed the line. He reached down, and put his hand on Keiichi's shoulder. "Are you going to be okay? I didn't mean to rattle your cage so hard – do you need me to take you home?"

"Huh? Oh – no, I'll be able to make it back just fine…Oh crap! I forgot about Dan!"

"Dan?" the man asked.

"He's a friend of mine – he moved here about the same time I did. We left him in the forest a quarter mile back."

"You left him? Why?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure why. My other friend was in such a hurry to…anyways, I think I've got to go."

"I think I'll be heading out as well – I got what I came for, so I'll head back to my place. I'll see you around."

"Uh, yeah… Sure. Take care of yourself." The man thanked him, and took off. Keiichi was still quite jarred by what he had dumped in his lap, but finding his friend took priority now. "I hope he's alright…"

"He's fine," Rena said, in a slightly cold tone of voice. This time, Keiichi fell down, and smacked his head on the ground.

"Geez, what's with people today?" Keiichi mumbled, staggering back to his feet. "I can't handle all this excitement."

"Are you okay?" Rena called down to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What kept you…?" Keiichi stopped, and looked up at his friend, holding a billhook. His eyes locked on the large knife, and felt a bit unsettled by the fact she was just carrying it around. He broke his concentration, and tried acting as if it didn't bother him. She gracefully hopped down to where he was.

"I went looking for a saw, but this is all I was able to find. Will this help?"

"I think that might work, but I really think I should go and look for…"

"You're looking for who?" Rena asked, her eyes narrowing, similar to a cat.

"Huh? What's everyone so exited…?" Dan was cut short as the billhook flashed across his face. His eyes shot out like a cheesy cartoon character, his face instantly covered with beads of sweat.

"Oh my…! Are you alright?" Rena asked, returning to normal. Dan slowly regained his composure, and settled down.

"Why is everyone so jumpy today?" he mumbled.

"What?" Rena asked.

"…Nothing. I'm still pretty tired. I always forget about the giant crash those drinks give me. I ought to sleep like a rock tonight, though – that's for sure!" he said, laughing.

"I see," she said, her eyes narrowing again, as she shifted her attention back to Keiichi.

"So, who was…?" Rena stopped, as she noticed Dan walk right between them, not paying any attention to either of their reactions. He looked down, saw the statue, and then looked off into space. He took a minute to process any of the possible reasons Rena was toting a large blade, and dismissed them quickly. He looked back at the two, who were equally annoyed, and confused.

"Were you trying to get this out?" he asked, totally oblivious to their facial expressions.

"Uh, yeah… Why?" Keiichi asked.

"You could have woken me up, & I'da helped you to begin with…" he said, turning around, and placing his hands on the wooden beams blocking his path.

"What are you doing?" Keiichi asked.

"Helping," he replied, and then let out a grunt as he exerted his energy at full tilt.

"You can't be serious…" Keiichi said, and stopped as he watched Dan, almost effortlessly lift a large chunk of debris and toss it to the side. Rena was equally dumbfounded, but both continued to watch in amazement. In about twenty seconds, he had cleared the debris, lifted the statue out, and was balancing it over his shoulder.

"Where do you want it?" he asked. Both of his friends' facial expressions had gone completely blank. "Are you two okay?"

"…Yeah, yeah – we're fine."

"Right…" Dan said. "So, like I said, where do you want it? I can take it home for you, if you'd like."

"Th-th—that'd be great, if it's no trouble for you…" Rena said, still quite shocked.

"Not at all! I'll see you there, then." With that, he walked by them, and went on his way. Keiichi and Rena slowly watched as Dan walked off, and disappeared from sight. The two looked back, and pointed at each other.

"Did you…?"

"No, did you?"

"No…"

"Same here,"

"Right…"

"Okay." The two quickly tried to forget what they had just seen. "So, you were asking about something earlier?" Keiichi asked.

"Who were you talking to earlier, Kei-kun?"

"Who was I…? You know, he actually never mentioned his name, but I think he was off his rocker, personally."

"Really?" Rena said, "Why do you think that?"

"I'm not that sure, but it's not that important. I think he just wanted to see if he could scare me, or something. He said that some director guy was murdered here, or something like…"

"It's a lie," Rena said, almost to the point of shouting.

"I'm sorry?" Keiichi asked, looking at his friend.

"I said it's a lie," she said, looking him square in the eyes.

"Okay," Keiichi said, backing up a bit. "You don't need to get so worked up about it, you know." Rena kept her sights locked on him for a while longer, and eventually backed down.

"I know; I'm sorry. I was just a bit scared, that's all."

"(Scared? You looked more SCARY than scared…,)" Keiichi thought to himself. "Well, I'm sorry to have scared you, that wasn't my intention."

"I know, you're a good boy – you always have been," Rena said, giving him an empty smile.

"Uh, thanks." Rena kept her eyes focused on him, making him feel rather uncomfortable. "Geez, it certainly got dark really quick, didn't it?" he said, trying to change the subject. "I think we ought to head home. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll be there. Don't forget about the picnic, okay?"

"I'll be there. …Oh! If Dan's still at your house, would you send him home? He did say he'd wait for you there."

"Sure, I'll do that…" she said, giving him a sly grin. Keiichi didn't know exactly how to respond, so he just gave a simple nod. There was just too much going through his head right now. It didn't make any sense that a random individual would walk up to him and tell him a complete lie, and then just leave.

"The way Rena was acting was really weird, where'd that 'good boy' crap come from? I don't remember her ever acting like that before. It's like she's a different person. It's pretty creepy..." he said to himself. He started on his way home, but noticed something on the ground, covered by some of the rubble that Dan had 'tossed' out of his way. "What's this?" he asked, picking it up. His eyes widened as he read the headline - "Government Dam Director Murdered." He fell to his knees, and felt sick to his stomach. It didn't get any better as he continued to scan through the article. "It says that they never found the culprit...? There's no way that...is there? No, that's just ridiculous. But, why would she say it didn't happen? This doesn't make any sense...I think a good night's rest to clear my head."

***

"zzzz...zzZZZZzzz..."

"What's that noise?" Mr. Ryugu said, looking out the window. He saw Dan lying outside, by himself, up against a statue. "Who is that...and what's that he's next to?" He walked over to the entryway, slipped his outdoor shoes on, and went outside. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, trying to wake Dan up. No matter what he did, nothing would work. "What's with this kid? He's acting like he's dead, but that's not possible – nobody SNORES when they're dead..." He looked at the colonel statue that Dan had totted home, and then looked back at Dan. "Did he...? How?"

"Dad, what are you doing?" Rena asked, walking up to him.

"Oh, Rena," he replied, "I was wondering when you'd get home." He gave his daughter a hug. They both looked over at Dan, still sawing logs. "I was hoping you could tell me about..."

"Huh?" Rena said, slightly confused. "Oh, you mean Dan? He brought that home for me."

"By himself?"

"Yeah..." Rena said, still quite confused about it herself.

"Oh my..." he said, getting equally nervous. "He certainly is strong for his age...or at all, for that matter!"

"I agree," Rena said.

"Well, I'm glad your back – I can't wake him up, and I have no idea how long he's been out here for."

"Maybe we should have him stay here for the night," Rena said, "as long as you're okay with it."

"I suppose it would be fine, I'm not sure how much longer he'll be out like this, but I'd feel better knowing he's safe."

"Thanks dad!" she said, giving him another big hug.

"It's no problem," he said. "Now, help me get him inside." She nodded, and they both grabbed his limbs, and totted him inside. They brought him into the living room, and set him down on the couch.

"I had no idea he snored so loud!" Rena said, looking closely at him.

"I'm not sure how you WOULD know," her dad replied.

"That's true. I'll go grab a blanket, and make sure he's comfortable. You can probably go to bed now, now that I'm back."

"Sure," he said. "It is pretty late, and I did have a long day at the office. Don't stay up too late yourself, okay?"

"Don't worry about me dad, I'll be fine. Although, having a pair of earplugs would be nice." Both of them laughed heartily for a good minute. Her dad nodded to her, and then went to upstairs to his room. She waited a few minutes, and then sat down on the other couch, staring at Dan. "I wonder if he heard anything that I was discussing with Keiichi?" She pulled her billhook out of her bag, and started sharpening it.

Dan's snoring had quieted down to a dull roar, but it was still clear he was sleeping. Rena continued for a good ten minutes, keeping an eye on Dan the entire time. She got up, and slowly walked over to Dan. She contemplated what she was going to do with him, and whether it was necessary. She grabbed a good handful of his hair, lifted him up, and looked at him again. He was still completely gone, not showing any sign of life, other than deep breathing. Rena raised her blade, and got ready to come down on his throat. Before she could, something in her mind screamed at her to stop what she was doing. She tried to fight against it for a moment, but reason began creeping in. She dropped he knife, and slowly lowered Dan back down.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself. She stared at him sleeping peacefully, and again contemplated her actions. Eventually, she got the impression that she didn't have to worry about him. A smile spread across her face, and she sat down next to him. She began running her fingers through his hair, looking more like a mother now. "I can trust you, can't I?" She leaned down, and gave him another kiss, which stopped his snoring entirely. She waited a moment for another response, but none came. "I'll take that as a yes..." She lied down next to him, got under the covers next to him, and went to sleep.

***

Dan found himself lying in the middle of the floor, staring at the ceiling. There was a breeze blowing through the open door, and he could see that the weather outside was not going to be getting better any time soon. For some reason he couldn't feel his limbs – it was as if they had been severed from his body.

"Ugh…where am I?" he asked, looking around. "For that matter, where is everyone else? I told Rena that I'd be here waiting at her house; I don't remember going INSIDE." He tried to get up, but his limbs remained unresponsive. As he lay motionless, he could see the lightning outside dancing across the sky, as if it was laughing at him. Suddenly, he noticed a dark figure in the doorway, holding something that was dripping, and shining faintly. Instantly panic took over as he began to flail around helplessly. The dark figure laughed, and began approaching slowly, fully aware of Dan's situation, and mocking him along the way.

"What's the matter, Dan?" the voice asked; not nearly clear enough for Dan to determine who it was. "Don't you like me anymore?"

"Like you? Who ARE you?" he asked, trying to remain calm while looking around for an escape, but finding none that were currently accessible.

"That's cold, Dan – how could you forget me?"

"Pretty easily – I don't usually make acquaintances with people totting weapons around, who seem to spontaneously appear out of nowhere! At least, I can't recall any instance where that was the case!"

"You're so funny!" the figure said, continuing to advance toward Dan. "That's why I've always liked you, you know? Why did you have to get involved?"

"Involved? What are you talking about? I don't know what you're…?" He cut himself short as he felt the wall around him, unknowingly having backed himself into a corner. Instantly, there was a flash of light, followed by a loud slamming sound, inches away from his head. The figure was now standing above him, so that Dan could make out a faint smile, which was slowly fading the more he stared. He began to feel drops of water hitting his face, in a short, broken pattern. Dan was shocked as he watched his assailant, within seconds, start crying uncontrollably, releasing their hold on the large knife, and holding onto him for dear life.

"I don't want to kill you, Dan! I don't! I don't!"

"Rena?" Dan asked, utterly stunned at what was going on. "What are you talking about? Why would you have to?"

"It's the curse of Oyashiro-sama! It's making me do these things, and I don't want to! Please help me!" she pleaded.

"Curse?" Dan thought, "What is she talking about?" He slowly reached up, and returned a hug to her, trying to console her. "I'll do whatever I can to help – tell me what I need to do!"

"…You don't believe me - that there's a curse, do you?" Rena said in a cold tone.

"Huh? I'll take your word for it – it's just that…"

"YOU DON'T! I KNEW IT!" she shouted, ripping away from Dan, and glaring at him with hate blazing in her eyes.

"Whoa! Hold up a minute! Let me finish what I was going to say!" Dan said, saddened and completely confused by the sudden actions of his friend. "I was just going to say that that came out of nowhere, and it caught me off-guard - that's all!"

"You LIAR!" She screamed, grabbing her knife, and getting ready to come down on Dan again. He didn't move, mostly because he was paralyzed by fear, but the other part wanting to prove something to Rena. She stopped again, staring into his tear-stained face. He reached out to her, and held her face in his hands, reaching for every ounce of sincerity he had, to convey it to her.

"Rena, please believe me! I have no reason to doubt you - I completely believe you."

"Do you mean it?"

"I swear on my life!" Rena laughed a bit, and again closed in on his face, looking him squarely in the eyes.

"You really are a great guy, you know?" she asked. Dan closed his eyes, and hung his head down in shame.

"I wish I was, but I'm not. I'm constantly letting people down, and not meeting up with their expectations. That's why I came here to this place, so I could start over with my life. I haven't even been here a month and I've let YOU down - why can't I do anything right?" Rena looked at him, and smiled.

"That's why I like you Dan – you're completely honest about everything. That may be the one thing that saves you in the end…"

"The end…?" Dan asked, looking back up to his friend.

"Yes, the end – when this reality will end, and you will have to face another. Unless you can realize what is real, and what is not, this world will take you and tear away everything you've ever known and loved. Don't forget that…"

"Alright – although I don't quite know what you mean, I'll do my best!"

"Good, that's what I like to hear. Now wake up."

"Wha…?" Dan said watching his friend back up. "Are you…what the hell?! ARGH!" Dan shouted as he felt everything begin to spin uncontrollably, and began falling down.

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND! What's going…on?" Dan found himself on the ground, having landed face first off the couch. "Uhh…I still don't know where I am, and now I'm completely confused about everything!" Everything was completely blurry, and the room really hadn't quit spinning for him. "Damn, this is totally stupid – I think I need to lay off the energy drinks for a while...they're finally starting to get to me."

"Are you alright?" Mr. Ryugu asked.

"Yeah, I just had a weird…dream?" Dan could see the faint outline of a man, coming closer to him. He looked a bit different from Mr. Maebara, from what he could tell – that, and his voice was completely different. "Forgive my bluntness, but, who are you? Please tell me you're Mr. Maebara, and you just have a cold."

"I'm afraid I'm not Mr. Maebara – I'm Mr. Ryugu. Rena & I brought you in here last night after you had brought that statue home – you were out like a light!"

"I was? Rena? I'm lost…" Dan said, holding his head.

"Well, I don't know if I can really blame you – I'm not sure how I would be after carrying that large statue for nearly a mile!"

"It's a mile? I was wondering about that…" Dan said. Mr. Ryugu stared at him in disbelief. "Anyways, what time is it?"

"About ten to eight, that's why I…"

"WHAT?" Dan shouted, leaping to his feet. "I'm going to be late, and no one is going to dress me up in that ridiculous get up again because of it!"

"Huh? What are you…?"

"No time to explain! Must run; talk later! Where's Rena?"

"I'm right here…" Dan and Mr. Ryugu froze, and both of their faces fell to the floor.

"There's no way…" Mr. Ryugu said.

"It couldn't be…" Dan followed.

"What?" Rena said, getting up off the couch.

"I can't feel myself…" Dan said, slowly turning to a pile of goo, and sinking to the floor. Mr. Ryugu ran over to his daughter, and examined her closely.

"He didn't do anything, did he?"

"Do what, Dad?" Rena asked, looking terribly confused.

"You know – anything…bad?"

"Bad? …OH! No!" Rena blurted, leaping up of the couch as red as a cherry tomato. "Nothing happened at all! I just got sleepy, and fell asleep. I thought I'd keep an eye on him, though, in case he woke up or something."

"Don't you think you could have kept an eye on him somewhere else?"

"I agree…" Dan said, still lying on the ground, white as a sheet.

"I didn't think it would matter that much, since he was out cold. Besides, I trust him – I knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt me." Mr. Ryugu looked at his daughter, and wondered where that kind of logic came from – he certainly hadn't remembered ever teaching anything like that to her. He looked at Dan, and after studying the expression on his face for a bit, he felt rather confident that he didn't do anything.

"…What am I going to do with this daughter of mine?" he asked himself. He shook his head, and put on a weak smile. "I suppose I can let this slide…"

"Are you mad, Dad?"

"No, no. It's alright – I trust you."

"You're the greatest!" Rena said, leaping up, and giving him a big hug. He let her go, and walked over to Dan.

"Uh…thanks for being responsible, I guess…"

"No problem," Dan squeaked. Suddenly, he remembered what time it was, and shot up. "Oh SHIT! I'm going to be even later now! AUGH! I've got to bail!" He made for the door, and slammed right into it, effectively knocking himself out in an instant. Rena and her father walked over to Dan, and looked at him.

"Didn't he know it was Saturday?" Mr. Ryugu asked.

"Guess not…" Rena said, shaking her head, and laughed weakly. "But, that's Dan for you, though…" Her dad grimaced, and shook his head.

"Hmm…I guess he isn't smart enough to do something like that…" he thought.

***

The day was nice and sunny, a perfect day for a picnic. Dan was walking arm and arm with Rena, feeling like a fish out of water all the while. He didn't really mind having Rena as friend, but he was curious where the sudden attraction came from. That was weighing heavy on his mind, but not nearly as much as how it was going to affect his other friends. Rena was completely content, not even aware of how stressed Dan was about the whole thing. The two had made the bulk of the food, figuring that the others would likely forget to bring food. Dan thought it was a bit excessive, though he couldn't deny he enjoyed having a relaxing morning, aside from his 'rude' awakening that started it off. As they were preparing the meal, he remembered the times he would go out as a boy scout. He was always be surprised by how much food a small group of 12-14 year olds could put away.

"Are you okay?" Rena asked, as she looked at Dan, and saw he didn't quite look like himself.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, more or less…" Dan said, scratching his head. "I'm still hurting a bit from running into the door this morning. …That, and I just had a lot on my mind."

"Really? Anything I can do to help?" Rena asked.

"No, no…I'll be just fine, it's nothing to get worked up over."

"Oh, come on! Let me take a look!" she insisted, getting a lot closer.

"I said it'll be fine – I'm a little bit tougher than I look, and act sometimes…Really."

"Don't be such a baby, and just let me look!" Rena said.

"Alright, alright already – no need to get upset over it," Dan said. He got down on one knee, and looked up at her. She looked at his forehead, and made sure everything was all right. She nodded, and put her hand out to help him back up. Dan smiled, and took her hand.

"Why thank you, young lady, much obliged!" They looked at each other for a moment, and laughed for a bit. Dan took a moment to get a good look at Rena while he had a good angle. Rena took notice, and blushed a bit.

"What are you looking at?" she asked.

"I've never really stopped and taken a good look at you before, and I was thinking to myself that you had a very pretty smile." Rena blushed, and looked away, completely embarrassed.

"Oh Dan…"

"What do we have here?" Mion asked, looking slightly flustered and devious at the same time. "Aren't you two a bit young to be proposing to each other?" Dan froze and lost all the color in his face, slowly fell down to the side, and twitched for a few moments. Rena was equally as shocked, and began waving her arms rapidly in protest.

"N-n-nn-nn-nn-nn…NO! You have it all wrong! It's nothing like that at all!" Rena stammered.

"Then what were you doing?" Mion asked the others.

"Yeah, you never sent Dan home last night, either," Keiichi said, "What's up with that?"

"Well, that was…"

"Oh, a SLUMBER PARTY is it?" Mion said, "And Dan was the only one invited? Now I've got to know." Rena was now completely gone, redder than a tomato, and completely unable to respond intelligently. The other girls were completely dumbfounded as well, staring at the odd couple.

"Slumber party? I didn't think you had those with boys," Satoko said, quite confused.

"They don't…" Rika said, turning equally as red as Rena.

"You didn't do 'that'…did you?" Keiichi asked. Rena and Dan both snapped back into reality, and glared at their friends.

"HELL NO!" Both roared in unison.

"Whoa! There's no need to be so upset," Mion said. "If you didn't do anything, then there's nothing to worry about, right?"

"That's right!" Rena said.

"You just didn't give a chance to explain anything," Dan said.

"Alright then, go ahead and explain what happened," Mion said.

"Well," Dan began, "I brought this statue home for Rena, and I waited there for a while for her to show up. While I was waiting for her to get back, I was hit by another energy crash, which completely knocked out. By the time she got home, at least I assume that's when it happened; I woke up on the couch. That's all I know."

"What about your side of the story Rena?" Keiichi asked.

"I was just getting ready to explain that," Rena said. "By the time I got home, Dan was completely out like he said. My dad and I brought him inside, and let him rest on the couch for the night. Nothing else happened, other than the both of us making the meal before we came here."

"That's really boring," Mion said, rather disappointed.

"What did you expect?" Dan asked, "You wanted us to do something?"

"No, but…" Mion said.

"But what?" Dan said, cutting her off.

"Oh, never mind…" Mion replied. Dan scratched his head, and rolled his eyes.

"I'll never understand girls," he thought to himself. He walked over to Mion, and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry to get a bit bent out of shape. Will you forgive me?" Mion looked at him like he was crazy for a moment, and laughed at him.

"You don't need to get so serious all the time, you know? I was just razing you to see what kind of a reaction I could get out of you; don't worry about it!" Everyone else nodded, then began to laugh as well.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"

"Let's eat – I'm tired of just standing around talking about Dan being Rena's boyfriend…?" Keiichi said, and then stopped. Everyone gave him the evil eye for a moment, and then just acted as if Keiichi hadn't even spoken.

Rika and Satoko quickly laid the blanket down, and claimed their spot. Everyone else followed suit, and waited for Rena to spread out the feast. The more she pulled out, the wider everyone's eyes got.

"Oh wow," everyone said collectively.

"Rena certainly knows how to make a good meal – look at all this!" Rena blushed, and grinned widely.

"Oh, it's not that much – besides, Dan helped me a bit, too."

"I knew you two made a good couple," Mion said. Rena and Dan both lit up, and shook their heads.

"I thought we were passed that," Dan said, scratching his head.

"I never said that," Mion said, getting much closer to Dan, as he was slowly backing up, "I just said we'd stop teasing you about last night…for now." Dan's face fell, but he got over it quick enough when he noticed Mion get right up in his face. "I hadn't noticed how cute you were until now. I can see why Rena would like you…"

"What?" Rena shouted, pushing Dan aside, and getting up in Mion's face. "So what if I do like him? What do you think you're doing?"

"I never heard you say that you two were an item, so I thought I'd take my chance with him, if you were going to hesitate."

"Well, that is, I, err…" Rena stammered.

"Well nothing! If you don't have anything to say, then step aside…? Where'd he go?" Dan was nowhere to be seen. Mion looked at the rest of the group, and asked, "Did you see where he went?" Everyone shook their heads, and looked at each other to make sure. Dan was hiding up a tree, as still as a statue, looking down at the group below.

"What's up with that?" Dan thought to himself. "I'm starting to get a bit creeped out by all of this. I don't remember doing anything to make them so interested in me…what's the deal?" Dan heard a small cracking noise, and looked back at the tree. "Oh, that's just hilarious…" Dan said. Ten seconds later, he was on the ground, seeing stars. Keiichi and the girls ran over to the sound, and found him lying there on the ground, moaning.

"How'd he get so far away so quickly?" Keiichi asked.

"What I want to know is why and HOW he got up there?" Rena said.

"I don't know, but I don't care…" Mion said. "Let's just drag him back, and wait until he comes to – no telling what might happen if we leave him here…"

"Very true, very true," Keiichi and Rena said, nodding their heads in unison.

"Boys…" Rika said.

***

Dan woke up in his room looking at the ceiling, and an ice bag on his forehead. Keiichi was sitting in the other end of the room at his desk, looking at a newspaper clipping.

"What are you doing over there?" Dan asked.

"Ah, you're finally awake," Keiichi replied, glancing at Dan, then back at the article. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

"What happened exactly? All I remember is falling out of the tree, and going out cold."

"There's not anything else TO remember," Keiichi said. "We just finished our picnic, and I took you home." Dan seemed to accept that as an answer, and sat up. He noticed Keiichi try to cover something up, as he got closer.

"What's that you're looking at, eh?"

"Eh? Are you Canadian?"

"No, but I like 'em… Hey, don't change the subject. You should be used to my odd remarks by now!"

"I don't know if that's possible," Keiichi said, beginning to laugh.

"Ah, can it! Just answer my question."

"It's not much, really – just an old murder case, that's all."

"I see, and you call me the odd one," Dan said, rolling his eyes. "What's the reason for reading that? Sudden interest in dead people?"

"NO!" Keiichi shouted, "I'm just a bit concerned about it, because of what Rena said the other day."

"Rena? What'd she say?"

"She said that it never happened, but the proof's right here."

"Hmm, I wonder why she would say something like that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, if it's not that important, forget about it, Kei. It's not worth losing sleep over, you know?" Dan said, trying to reason with Keiichi. "People always have a reason for doing something, maybe she just wants to forget about it. The past has a way of biting people in the ass, if you get too involved. Knowing about history is important, but something like this isn't worth it."

"You think so?"

"I'm pretty sure. I may look like I don't know any better, but I've dealt with my fair share of crap back in the day – it's part of the reason I moved away from the States. Trust me on this one, Kei, let sleeping dogs lie."

"I guess you're right. I just wish I knew the reason why, that's all." Keiichi folded the article up, and put it away. "So, it looks like you're doing alright now. Do you want to do something?"

"Possibly, what time is it?"

"It's about seven."

"Really? Well, do you want to get something to eat? I wasn't able to eat anything at the picnic since I, well, you know…"

"Yeah, I do. Do you have any idea why those two…"

"Not a clue, man – not a clue! I was hoping you could tell me – you've known both of them longer than I have."

"That's true, but I've got nothing for you either."

"Damn, that sucks. Oh well, no use worrying about it for now. All I know is that I'm hungry, and I don't want to think about girls for the next twelve plus hours."

"Amen to that brother," Keiichi said. Dan gave him a cock-eyed look, and slowly nodded. They looked at each other, and started laughing.

"Ha ha, I'm starting to rub off on you!"

"I don't know how you couldn't," Keiichi said. "It's my treat; just tell me where you want to go."

"Sweet! I'm driving!"

"You're the only one who can, dumb ass."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

***

"Hurry up Dan; we're going to be late again!" Keiichi shouted from downstairs.

"This feels a lot like Déjà vu," Dan said, rushing to the door.

"You're telling me, I thought you'd have learned by now."

"I swore I went to bed on time last night, I'm sure of it."

"That's not important right now, we've got to hurry, or we'll miss them, and you know what that means, right?"

"I won't be the only one getting the punishment, you know?" Dan said, leering at Keiichi.

"Quit that, you're freaking me out!" Keiichi said, pushing Dan away. The two raced like lightning, almost tearing the fence down as they ran through it. Not too far ahead, they noticed Rena and the others waiting for them.

"Sweet, they decided to wait for us today, that's nice!"

"Dan-kun!" Rena and Mion said in unison. Dan shuddered, and screeched to a halt.

"Good morning," Dan said, forcing a smile. "Ready to head to class?"

"Yep!" Rena piped cheerfully. "I was wondering if you wanted to try something I made today…"

"What is it?"

"It's a surprise!" she said.

"No, Dan can't have what you made; he's got to try what I made him!" Mion said. The two glared at each other, and it looked like actual sparks were flying.

"Is it possible to talk about this later?" Dan asked, "Lunch is a few hours away, and the teacher will be mad at all of us if we're late."

"For once, I actually agree with what Dan is saying," Rika said.

"Thank you…I think."

"Fine, we'll settle this later," the two girls said in unison, both going for Dan, scooping him off his feet, and rushing to the school. They vanished from sight in a few seconds, leaving the other three in the dust.

"Do you understand any of this?" Keiichi asked.

"Not a thing," Rika replied.

"Don't look at me, I'm just as lost as the rest of you," Satoko said.

The other three ran to school, and got there just in time for class to start. Dan was sitting between Mion and Rena, and looked like a mouse watching the trap come down on him. Ms. Aoki was doing her best to ignore the quibbling from the two older girls.

"I'm just glad that Dan isn't the one instigating everything this time," she thought to herself.

"Why doesn't she do anything to stop these two?" Dan moaned under his breath. "Hell, is everyone totally oblivious to everything? …This sucks! Waiting for today to come to an end is going to be a joke, I can just tell." Keiichi just watched his friend, and had a pretty good idea what he was thinking.

"Poor Dan," he thought, "those girls are gonna eat him alive!" The girls continued their tug of war silently during class, waiting for lunchtime to come. Dan looked up at the clock, and it looked as if time was beginning to move backwards on him. He rubbed his eyes, looked more intently at the clock, and saw it still spinning backwards, even faster than before.

"Uh, teacher? I think there's something wrong with the clock." The teacher looked, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"I don't know what you're talking about Dan, it looks fine to me. Now, please let me continue with today's lesson, for those who are actually listening." She gave Dan a menacing glare as if to tell him the next 'stunt' he pulled would be his last.

"I hate my life…" Dan groaned.

Eventually, lunchtime came, and for once in his life, Dan was not so eager for it to have come. The group had separated into those with Dan, and the rest with Keiichi. Rena and Mion had cornered Dan, and were trying to share their lunches with him.

"You've GOT to try this Dan, I made it just for you!" Rena said, offering him some of her Takiyoki.

"Oh no, you can't have that, this is much better!" Mion countered, trying to push Rena away. They bantered at each other for a good while, while Dan simply sat back, trying not to make any sudden moves, not quite sure what either would do if he suddenly disappeared again.

"Those guys," Satoko said, "What's with them? They're acting like children!"

"I agree," Rika said, involved in her own meal, and trying to ignore Dan and the others. "Hopefully, it's just a phase. I must admit, though, I've never seen these two go at it quite so much before."

"I see…" Keiichi said.

"Hee, hee, hee…" Dan laughed, trying to keep somewhat of a straight face. "I have a suggestion."

"What's that?" Rena asked.

"I could just try both – I know you two are excellent cooks…"

"NO! That simply won't do!" Rena said. "I thought you liked me!"

"I thought that you liked me, too!" Mion said, putting a puppy-dog face on.

"I do! I do – that's why I was trying to compromise here…"

"You have to decide between the two of us, right now!" Rena said. Dan's face was swept with horror, not wanting to face this decision now.

"Why? This was all so sudden to begin with; you can't expect me to decide just like THAT! That's not fair at all!"

"Who said anything about this being fair?" Mion asked.

"I feel impending doom closing in on me…" Dan thought, his face going completely white.

"Hurry up, or I'll…" Mion stopped, hearing a knock at the door. She stopped her assault, and got up to get the door. Dan offered up a silent prayer of thanks for the temporary reprieve. Mion opened the door, and took a few steps back, letting the man enter the room.

"Why, hello there young lady," he said.

"Hello to you to, officer," Mion said, with a slight edge in her tone.

"Is there a Keiichi Maebara here?" Keiichi stood up, and walked over to the officer.

"Yes, that's me."

"Good to meet you," the officer said. "I was wondering if you could come outside and have a chat with me for a while. Is that alright?" the officer asked.

"I suppose so, what's this in regards to?"

"We'll talk about that outside, if you don't mind." Keiichi nodded reluctantly, but figured he should just agree for now. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong, so that wasn't anything to worry about. The officer led Keiichi out into his car, and started it up, just to get the air conditioning going. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it up, and took a few slow drags on it. A good minute had passed before either of them had said a word. Keiichi decided to be the first to break the ice.

"Alright, so what's this all about?" The officer pulled out a picture, and handed it to Keiichi. Upon looking at it, Keiichi recognized the face immediately.

"I've seen this guy before…who is he?"

"His name was Tomitake Jiro – a photographer from out of town. He usually came by once a year to take pictures of the scenery."

"What do you mean was?" Keiichi asked nervously.

"I was hoping you could help me with that, actually. When was the last time you saw him?"

"Well, it was at the city dump. I was there with a friend looking for something, and he just popped up out of nowhere, as far as I could tell. That was the first and last time I've seen him."

"I see," the officer said, looking slightly disappointed. He took the photograph from Keiichi, and produced a new one, which was not as pleasant to look at.

"Is this…him?" Keiichi asked, quickly returning the photograph.

"I'm afraid so. We found him like that yesterday. One of our officers was looking around after getting an anonymous tip that he had gone missing. We thought the tip was a bit odd, since he never really let anyone know he was here when he came through. It's just the people he happens to pass by that ever really know he's around."

"So how did you know that I had met him before?" Keiichi asked.

"I was doing a routine run through the town, and I happened to see you two talking when I drove by. I figured that you were still in school, judging by your looks."

"Right…" Keiichi thought. "So how'd this happen anyways?"

"It appears that he committed suicide by gouging out his own throat with his bare hands. Suicide is disturbing enough by itself, but this is a new one for me. People usually take the quick way out; scratching away at your own throat seems like the last thing someone would try. Although we haven't yet confirmed it, we suspect there might have been some type of drug involvement."

"And you thought I'd know more about how he died?" Keiichi blurted. "I had only just met the guy." The officer laughed a bit, and gave Keiichi a somewhat serious look.

"Don't worry; you're not one of my main suspects. I had actually come by to tell you to be careful from here on out."

"Why would that be?" Keiichi asked, getting quite nervous.

"I'm not completely sure, but I have good reason to suspect that some of your friends are behind this."

"My…friends?"

"Yes," the officer assured him, coldly. "I remember the fact that you had mentioned you were with a friend at the city dump when you met Tomitake. When I drove by, she wasn't there – do you know where she was?"

"Not exactly, she said she was going to go get something to cut some of the debris away from a statue we were trying to dig up. Other than that, I don't EXACTLY where she was. But what does that have to do with this?"

"I just had a suspicion, that's all. Let's just say that all of your friends have had a less than perfect record."

"What?"

"There are things in your friends past that you should be aware of, but I'll have to talk to you later about it. I have some other matters I need to attend to right now. Just remember to be careful, all right? Oh, one more thing – no matter what, don't talk about this conversation with anyone, especially the girls."

"What about my friend Dan?"

"Dan? How do you know him?"

"He's my roommate that moved here from the states a while back. Why?" The officer didn't respond for a moment, but then shook his head.

"I'm sorry; I must have been thinking of another Dan that I used to know. There's nothing to worry about." Keiichi gave the officer a strange look, but decided to let it go.

"Well, is it alright to talk to him about it, or should I keep it secret from him, too?"

"If you want to, it should be alright, but I personally wouldn't. If he's not involved in this, there's no need to GET him involved."

"I see," Keiichi said. "Thanks for the advice; I'll definitely keep it in mind." He opened the door, and headed back to the classroom.

"I'll be in touch if you need to talk at all, alright?" the officer called. "Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you my name – it's Kuraudo Oishi." Keiichi nodded, and went back inside.

"I can't believe that guy is dead," Keiichi thought to himself. "And more importantly, I wonder what he meant when he said that the girls all had some sort of record? That's a tough pill to swallow!" He rounded the corner, and opened the classroom door. What he saw was nothing short of ridiculous. Dan was clinging to the ceiling, dressed up in a maid outfit, while the rest of the girls were trying to get him down.

"Oh! He's so cute! I want to take him home with me!" Rena said.

"No way! He's mine, back off!" Mion shouted, pushing the other girls out of the way.

"He doesn't need to stay with Keiichi anymore, he can come home with us," Satoko said.

"That's right – he'd actually be able to help us, you just want him for yourselves!" Rika said.

"Do I have a say in this?" Dan asked.

"NO!" all the girls shouted in unison. Dan wanted to cry, when he noticed Keiichi standing in the doorway, staring blankly at the situation he was in. Dan hopped down, and bolted behind Keiichi.

"Oh, you don't know how glad I am to see you! (These girls are getting way too crazy for my health!)"

"You're health?" Keiichi asked, looking back at his friend. He took a good look at him, and saw how ridiculous he looked. "What are you doing in that?"

"They dressed me up like this – I had nothing to do with it!"

"I believe you, OH how I believe you," Keiichi said, remembering the other day when they had completely humiliated him, and had him take pictures of the event. By then, the girls had noticed Keiichi, and had calmed down a bit.

"Hello Keiichi," Mion said, in a cold tone, "What did the officer want?" Keiichi locked, and tried to force his mind to come up with something to tell the girls, remembering what Oishi had told him.

"Oh, it was nothing…really; he just wanted to ask me about something, that's all."

"Really? Is that so?" Mion asked. "You sure look nervous, Keiichi, like you're trying to hide something from us…" Keiichi began to panic, but he was able to keep a straight face, for the most part. The other girls had begun to close in on him as well, all giving him a strange look.

"You were gone for such a long time," Rena said, her eyes narrowing like before, "Are you sure it was nothing?"

"Yeah, I'm sure it was nothing. Why do you care, anyways?" Keiichi said. "If I told you it's nothing, then it's nothing!" They certainly didn't look very convinced, but they began to back away from him.

"You're lying!" Rena shouted, her face twisted with anger. Keiichi jolted back, horrified to see his friend getting so upset over something so trivial. Oishi's words came back to his memory as he continued to watch his friends' behavior. "You think we can't tell when you're lying?"

"No, it's not…what's gotten into you all?" Keiichi asked, shrinking back into a corner. Mion slammed her hand against the wall, to either side of Keiichi's head, and looked him dead in the eyes.

"We're friends, aren't we? Why would you lie to us?" she asked, getting closer and closer to his face. "I would hate for something to happen between us, because you weren't willing to tell the truth…" Keiichi couldn't believe what was going on, and why no one was around to do anything about it. He looked away, and saw Satoko and Rika standing behind the two older girls, grinning evilly. His mind was going numb, and he couldn't focus clearly anymore, getting closer and closer to snapping by the second. At the point where Keiichi thought he was going off the deep end, the door flew open, revealing an angry teacher, and a woozy Dan.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ms. Aoki roared, holding Dan up by his collar. The girls all snapped back into reality, and all looked at the teacher, and then Dan.

"I don't want to ride the pony mommy," Dan mumbled. Everyone in the room stared at Dan, at a complete loss for words.

"I'm not leaving until this is fully explained…" Ms. Aoki said, "But you can forget about what he's babbling about." Everyone let out a sigh of relief, and got their composure back, for the most part.

"It started like this…"

***

Keiichi and Dan walked home alone that day, both wanting nothing to do with the girls for the rest of the day.

"I'm scared of those girls," Dan said, still a bit out of it. "I can't be left alone with them anymore, ANY of them!"

"I think I might know how you feel Dan," Keiichi said, thinking about what had happened while Dan had 'disappeared.' "By the way, where did you go? I didn't even notice that you had left."

"Well, I decided to take whatever chance I could to get away from them, and I took off down the hall as soon as they took their attention away from me. Then I ran into the teacher, who wasn't exactly on my side to begin with. So, being in a MAID outfit didn't help improve the situation whatsoever. She didn't know who I was; so she knocked me clean out. I don't really remember much after that…" Dan said, rubbing his face. "What happened with you?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, if that's okay with you," Keiichi said. Dan looked at him inquisitively, and could tell something was really bothering him. He knew it wouldn't be a good idea to push on with it, so he figured he'd leave it alone.

"Otay, I'll leave you alone about that then."

"Thanks Dan, I'm glad I can trust you." Dan smacked Keiichi in his back lightly, and then gave him a light headlock.

"Oh, come on! Why would you think you that? Doosh-nozzle!"

"Doosh-nozzle? Where'd you pull that from?"

"A comedian I listen to every now and then, we can listen to him if you want to take your mind off of whatever's got you in a tizzy." Keiichi laughed, and smacked Dan back.

"Like I said – I'm glad to know you!"

"No problem, man. Remember I'm here for you, too. If things get too crazy, just let me know, and I'll do what I can for you." The two laughed heartily, and continued for a good portion of the way home.

In about ten minutes, they arrived back at home, and rushed up to their room. Dan plopped on his futon, and decided to take a nap. Keiichi started on some homework, shaking his head after glancing over at Dan. "He's a tough cookie to figure out, you know? One minute he's completely serious, and the next, he makes a baby seem more mature than he is!"

"I'm still awake, you know…" Dan said, eyeing Keiichi. "Don't worry; I'll get my homework done, later. I just need a rest for a while."

"Okay, just quit looking at me like that, it's creepy!" Dan laughed, and knocked right out. Keiichi stared at him, waited a moment to make sure that he was asleep. When he felt assured that he was, he went back to doing his homework. "Like I said, he's a tough one to figure out."

He knocked it out within about an hour, and then relaxed a bit. Dan was still completely gone, sawing logs. "Geez! I think he upgraded from a hand saw to a chainsaw…Hopefully he'll run out of gas soon, that's all I can say." He walked out of the room, and headed downstairs. "Might as well make something to eat, maybe he'll quit after I'm done."

As he headed downstairs, he looked out a window, and noticed it was starting to get dark rather quickly. He looked at the clock on the wall on his way to the kitchen, and saw it was nearly eight o'clock. He was rather surprised to see that that much of the day had actually gone by. Not thinking much of it, he opened the fridge, and pulled out a few things to put a sandwich together. It was rather boring in the house, no noise, or anything to break up the monotony. He had had enough for the day, though, watching the girls behave so strangely towards Dan, and so hostile towards him. It was strange, though; the girls switched back to normal so quickly after the teacher came back. They stayed that way for the rest of the day, acting as if nothing had really happened. What the officer had told him was really bothering him as well. Up until then, everything seemed to be going well. It seemed like somebody just wanted to mess with him upstairs, and wasn't letting him in on the joke. He knew that God wasn't like that, though. He was starting to think of any other explanation, but he wasn't coming up with anything.

"This is retarded," he groaned to himself, "why would they care so much about a policeman coming to see me? It just makes them look guilty when they get all bent like that." He put everything back, took his sandwich upstairs, still muttering to himself about the day.

He got to his room and stopped; he heard something really noisy, but he couldn't make out what it was. He opened the door, and was nearly blown away by a sudden blast of noise.

"What the hell is all this noise?" Keiichi shouted, hanging on to the doorframe with one hand, and his sandwich in the other.

"WHAT?" Dan shouted back, looking up from his homework.

"I SAID, WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS NOISE?" Dan reached up, and turned the volume down. As soon as Keiichi's ears stopped ringing, he glared at Dan.

"I still couldn't hear you, what were you…!" Dan was cut short as Keiichi punched him in the face. Dan got up, and glared at Keiichi, putting him in his place. "What was that for?"

"For being a dumb ass, that's what," Keiichi said, his voice faltering slightly. "I don't like to have to fight my way through a dense layer of sound to get into my room!"

"You could have just asked me to turn it down," Dan said flatly. Keiichi rolled his eyes, and told Dan to forget it, because he knew that was an argument that wouldn't go anywhere for either of them. Dan sat back down, and started on his homework again. "I didn't know where you went, so I thought you wouldn't be around to mind, you know? Plus, since your parents are out for the week - I knew they wouldn't complain about it." Keiichi let out a sigh, took a bite from his sandwich, and plopped down on his bed.

"…That's fine Dan," he said. "Sorry for getting all upset about it. I thought you'd still be out, so I wasn't expecting any sort of surprise once I got back."

"No worries," Dan said, ripping through his assignments. "Stuff happens, and then you move on."

"Man, I wish I could get over things as quick as you can," Keiichi said.

"Why don't ya?" Dan asked. "It's not all that hard. If something bugs you, just blow it off. Most of the time, people do things just to see how you'll react in any given situation. When you let them know it doesn't bother you, they generally give it up pretty quick."

"I wish it was all that simple…" Keiichi finished his sandwich, and sprawled across his bed, ready to go out for the night.

"Most things are, but there're some things that you have to face head on, and you can't back down. Take me for example…" Keiichi chuckled a bit, but forced himself to quit. "Although I don't always act like I can or do, when something's wrong, I'm going to stand by my decisions. I don't leave any room for people to misunderstand where I'm coming from; when it's worth worrying about, that is."

"Really? Then would you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

Keiichi briefly explained what happened when he came back from talking with Oishi, and how they had totally bugged out on him. Dan listened intently, and thought about it for a moment.

"That sounds unusual… Okay, I'll do what I can to set things straight."

"You serious? Thanks a TON Dan – I'll owe you one for this."

"Don't worry about it. It shouldn't be too difficult since they all seem to be so gaga over me anyways…although I wish I knew what started it all." He rolled his eyes, and scratched his head again. "I guess if that's all, then I'll turn in for the night."

"Sounds good," Keiichi replied. "Good night."

***

The morning sun shone through the window, and nailed Keiichi right in the face. He staggered a bit, and rolled out of bed. There was an unusual feeling filling the room, and he wasn't too sure what to think of it.

"Hey Dan, it's time…?" Dan wasn't in the room, and his bed was already made. Keiichi wondered what was going on, as this was very unusual behavior for Dan, as far as he knew. He picked up his alarm clock, and saw that it was dead. Upon tracing the cord back to the wall, he saw that it was unplugged. "What's going on here? Is this some sort of joke?" He walked downstairs, and found a place set on the table for him, with a rather large breakfast, still piping hot.

"Dan? Did you do this? Where are you?" He sat down at the table, and found a note near the orange juice. He opened it up, and began to read it.

"Morning, sleepy head! I made you some breakfast to get you going this morning; you're going to need a bunch of energy for today. Enjoy it, and I'll see you later!"

"'Sleepy head?' Where does he get off calling me that?" Keiichi thought. "Oh well, I guess I'll put this away quickly, and head off to school."

Fifteen minutes later, Keiichi was absolutely stuffed, not wanting to move for a while. After he felt settled inside, he got up to get ready for school. He looked at the clock on the way back upstairs, and saw that he had about two minutes to get to school.

"What the hell? I completely forgot about the time! I've got to…uh?" Something began to stir on his insides, and he had a sinking feeling he had to get to the bathroom right away. He went as fast as he could, flung the door open, and assumed the position. Boiling with anger, and everything he had just ingested, he started shouting in frustration. "Damn you, Dan! I just know you're behind this! When you get home, I'm totally going to kick your ass!"

Ten to fifteen minutes later, Keiichi had no more energy to be pissed off; he just sat there muttering about how absolutely miserable he felt. He looked down at the floor, and saw another note on the ground, tucked under the mat. Using whatever strength he had left, he resisted the urge to rip it apart, and began reading the other letter.

"Hey,

Sorry about that. I'm not too clear on all the details about this whole situation, but I just thought it would be better if you stayed home today. That, and the fact that you said they flipped about you 'lying' about what you talked about, I figured I'd give you a valid excuse for staying home today. Sorry if this seems a bit unorthodox, but that's the way I am…

You'll be fine by tomorrow (that stuff typically only lasts for a few hours anyways or however long you need to be COMPLETELY cleaned out…).

Later,

Dan"

Keiichi didn't know what to think exactly - whether to pulverize him, or to thank him for a day off.

"You…you…you dolt. I'm definitely going to have a long talk with you after school, that's for damn sure."

***

"Where's Keiichi today?" Rena asked, making sure the teacher wasn't watching.

"He had something that didn't agree with him this morning. I wouldn't count on him showing up for the rest of the day." Rena gave him an odd look, but Dan gave her one back that told her he wasn't screwing around. She seemed to accept the answer, and started paying attention to the lecture again.

"Are you sticking around after school today?" Mion asked.

"Of course! I wouldn't miss our gaming session for anything… (As long as it stays somewhat normal). I wasn't too terribly thrilled about the whole maid outfit the other day, and neither was the teacher." Mion looked puzzled.

"What does the teacher have to do with this?"

"Well, for one thing, she was the one who drug me in here. The reason she drug me in here, is because SHE'S the one who knocked me out cold…"

"Oh, poor Dan," Mion said mockingly, "Dan got knocked out by a girl, how sad." Dan gave her an ornery look.

"You go ahead and cross her, and see who comes out on top when she sucker punches you in the face!"

"Would that really be a sucker punch?"

"If I'm not expecting it – that's what I call a sucker punch."

"I see…"

The class seemed to drone on forever, and Dan was forcing himself to stay awake. The teachers' words began to lose their meaning, and things were beginning to get blurry. For a moment, he could have sworn the teacher switched into saying, 'Blah, blah, blah…". He really didn't like getting up that early, and his face showed it. He longed to have an energy drink, a cup of coffee, something to get him going again.

"I think I'd need a couple pots of coffee to shake this crap…" He looked at the clock again, and this time it grew a face and started laughing at him. Instinctively, he jumped back, taking another look at it. Ms. Aoki slammed her book down, and glared right at Dan.

"Are my lessons really all that boring to you, Dan?" Dan snapped back to attention, and stood up.

"No, they're not."

"Then what is your problem?"

"I swear to Pete that clock started laughing at me…and it still is!" he said throwing his pencil at it. The whole class stared blankly at him, and everyone that was close to him backed up about a foot.

"…Okay…do you need some coffee?" Ms. Aoki asked.

"That sounds really good right now…" Dan said. She signaled for him to hurry up. "Thanks," he replied, heading to the door.

"One more thing Dan," Ms. Aoki said. Dan paused, and looked back at the teacher. "If you even THINK about sleeping after this, I can think of a lot worse things to do to you, than simply putting you in a maid outfit." The entire class erupted with laughter, and Dan almost died of humiliation on the spot.

"I hate you…" Dan groaned under his breath.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Keiichi was just barely emerging from the bathroom, still feeling the effects of the laxatives.

"Damn Dan, how much of that shit did you put in my food? I'm seriously going to pay you back for that, there's no doubt about that!" He walked down the hall, and into his bedroom. The bed looked particularly inviting at the moment, so he decided to take a rest to get over the residual effects of his 'medicine.' The instant he lied down, the phone began to ring. He grimaced, and got up to answer it. Grumbling obscenities while he made his way slowly to the phone, he picked it up and mumbled a greeting.

"Is this the Maebara residence?" the voice said.

"Yes it is. May I ask who's calling?"

"This is officer Kuraudo, I believe we spoke yesterday. This is Keiichi, correct?"

"Yeah it is. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing too serious, I just wanted to come by and talk to you about the other day. I can swing by in about ten minutes and pick you up. Do you have some time?"

"I do, actually. I stayed home from school today due to some 'unseen' circumstances. I guess it all works out, though."

"Are you sure you're up to going out then?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now. My 'friend' decided it would be a good idea for me to stay home today, and he took matters into his own hands." There was a long pause on the phone, which made Keiichi wonder if Oishi was still there.

"…I see. Well, I guess I'll see you in a few minutes, alright?"

"Sounds good." Keiichi hung up, and went to the bathroom to make himself presentable. Things were getting weird, and Keiichi didn't like the way things seemed to be going. He thought about Dan again, wondering if the girls would start flipping out on him, in the same way they had with him. Keiichi hadn't told Dan about the murder case, and Dan was rather dense about things like that, as far as Keiichi knew.

Thinking things through a bit longer, he decided that things should be all right. Dan may not have always come across as bright, but he excelled greatly in physical activities. He figured if things got too crazy, Dan could get away quick enough to find some help.

After finishing in the bathroom, Keiichi went downstairs, and waited for Oishi to show up. He didn't have to wait long for Oishi showed up. As soon as he heard the horn, he got up and headed outside. Oishi greeted him with a wave and a smile, and waited for Keiichi to get in the car. After getting all situated, they drove off, heading to the Angel Mori café. The time passed quickly, neither really saying much, other than the usual small talk. Before they knew it, they were there, and were already being asked what they'd like to drink. Both ordered something light from the menu, returned their menus to their server, and waited for their meal to come.

"So," Keiichi started, " you said you had something you needed to talk to me about?" Oishi took a few sips of coffee, getting it suited to his tastes, and nodded.

"Yes, it's something quite serious, so we need to keep this quiet, understand?" Keiichi nodded, and started listening intently. "I'm not too sure how much Tomitake told you when he spoke to you, but are you aware of the murder case from a few years ago, involving the dam incident?"

"I know a bit about it."

"Good, that will save a bit of time then. The person responsible for the murder was never found. Most of the people attribute it to a curse, caused by Oyashiro-sama."

"Who's that?"

"He was a monk from ancient times that was quite respected, as far as I know. Although many respected him, others also feared him. According to local legend, he ruled with a serious iron fist, horribly torturing any who dared defile the laws of the religion that he had established. Because of that, the town became quite a bit like it still is today. Outsiders generally aren't given too warm of a welcome, and the locals don't really put up with anyone that 'gets out of line.'"

"I guess that I can see a bit of that behavior now, I just hadn't paid much attention to it before. But how does this tie into the murder cases?"

"When the government sent their crew in to start working on the dam here, there was a lot of opposition. Putting it in would have been quite detrimental to this community, but the government didn't seem to care. It started with protests and picketing, but things started getting violent. Your friend Mion was a chief voice in many of the demonstrations they put on."

"What?" Keiichi shouted. The café grew silent for a moment, and everyone stared over at Keiichi and Oishi's table for a few moments.

"I told you to keep it down, remember?" Oishi said, doing his best to ignore the glares he was getting.

"Sorry," Keiichi apologized weakly, and waited for Oishi to start again.

"It's okay. Now, as I was saying, after a few weeks of this, the director disappeared for a while. They couldn't find his for a few days, but when they did, you know what state he was in, right?" Keiichi nodded nervously. "After some time had passed, and the actual murderer hadn't been found, people began saying it was the curse of Oyashiro-sama, and started making fun of the fact that the director had ignored their threats and warnings to leave.

"This recent death of Tomitake is just as mysterious as the dam director's death. The method was quite a bit different in this situation. If you remember, the cause of death was the victim bleeding to death, after having dug his throat out with his fingernails. The fact that he was partially buried, it's obvious that there is something else behind this – more specifically, someone. I don't care how good a 'curse' is; I doubt it would leave a man partially buried. I might find it more believable if he had completely disappeared, and had been missing for a while before being found, not the day after he goes missing."

"I see your point," Keiichi said. "Forgive me, but I'm failing to see how my friends tie into this exactly. Although, they did start acting really weird after I started talking to you."

"Weird? How do you mean?"

"Well, after Tomitake came and talked to me, she seemed like she was slightly irritated that I had talked to him at all. It really started to bother me when I came back from talking with you; they all began ganging up on me in class while no one else was around. They didn't seem like themselves, you know?"

"Really? That certainly does sound odd. Though, after doing a bit of checking on them myself, that seems to fit a bit better with what I dug up."

"How so?"

"I told you how your friend Mion had been quite active in a lot of the demonstrations that had gone on while the dam issue was being pushed; she never really stopped with that attitude. A year ago, she had physically abused another man, to the point where he had to be hospitalized." Keiichi felt his heart sink to his gut, and he started getting physically ill at the thought. Oishi didn't seem to notice, and continued. "Also, your friend Rena, before moving back here, she went on a rampage in her old school, breaking all the windows with a baseball bat."

"I can't believe this…" Keiichi groaned.

The waitress came back, and brought their meals to them.

"Here you go, sirs. Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you." The waitress gave a little bow, and walked off. Keiichi was still completely lost in his thoughts, trying to put things together. It felt as if someone had just taken a jigsaw puzzle he was working on, took a chunk of the pieces, and replaced them with pieces from twenty other puzzles, still expecting him to be able to work with it.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah – sure I'm okay. I just found out two of my best friends have a dark violent side, and my other friend is at SCHOOL with them!" Keiichi said, with a strong edge, but keeping his voice low enough, so as not to disturb everyone else. "What about Satoko and Rika? They can't be involved with this…can they?"

"Unfortunately, they are. Though their offenses weren't quite as severe, they've both had issues in the past."

Keiichi wanted to cry, and make all of what he had just heard go away. Despite how he felt, he knew that simply wishing things away never made anything better. If anything, it made it worse.

"I wouldn't worry too much about Dan; I think he can take care of himself. If it'll make you feel better, I'll drop by the school, and check on him after dropping you off." Keiichi weakly nodded, but his demeanor remained melancholy. Oishi could tell that Keiichi was having a tough time with this information dump he just received. He reached in his pocket, and pulled out a small card, which he handed to Keiichi. "Here, take this. That's my direct line; if you need anything, or find anything out about what's going on, give me a call, and I'll get right on it. Even if you just need someone to talk to, I'll be here for you."

"Thanks, I appreciate that," Keiichi said, forcing a smile.

"No problem. I want to put an end to all of this garbage even more than you do. I've had a long record of accomplishment for finishing all the cases I've started, and I'm not about to let this one be the one that gets away. I've been working at this for too long to just throw the towel in." They both smiled, and hoped for the best. "Well, let's eat, and I'll take you home."

Ten pots of coffee later, and a dozen donuts, Dan came back to class completely wired. He tried to keep it hidden as best he could, but he would have been better trying to pass himself off for Madonna. The teacher watched him 'walk' back to his desk, and sit down.

"Are you alright, Dan?"

"Oh yeah, I'm GREAT!" he said, and twitched slightly. The teacher eyed him carefully, and decided to just let it go.

"At least he's awake…" she thought. She resumed her lesson from where she had left off. Dan was following everything she said exactly, and actively participated in class. It caught her off guard at first, but really started to enjoy having Dan actually show some interest in her class. Even the students were having a good time, more than they had in any of their past classes.

A few hours later, they had blown straight through lunchtime, and finished with the material they had to go over that day.

"Well! Would you look at the time? I guess we're done for the day – class dismissed. I'll see you all tomorrow!" Everyone cheered loudly, and packed their things up quickly. Within seconds, the classroom was empty, except for the usual group, and the teacher. Dan got up from his chair and walked up to the teacher.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.

"Huh? Sure, I suppose. What is it?"

"I'd rather talk about it in the hall, if that's alright."

"That'll be fine," she said, a bit confused at how formal Dan was acting.

"Where are you going Dan?" Mion asked.

"I'll be right back; I just need to talk about something with the teacher. Don't start without me, hear?"

"Alright, just don't take too long."

"No worries, it'll only be a moment." Dan stepped out into the hall, while the girls watched him closely.

"What was with Dan today?" Mion asked.

"I don't know, but I actually thought it was really cute! I like him even more now!" Rena said.

"I wonder how much coffee he had?" Rika said.

"Yeah, I haven't seen him that full of energy since he got here, at least at school…" Mion said.

"Oh, by the way Rena," Satoko said, "you can't have him. He's coming to live with us."

"No way!" Rena shouted, "I wanted him first, so you can't have him!" She blushed a bit, and grinned widely. "Besides, he's practically a part of my family now. He DID stay the night at my house the other day."

"I thought you said nothing had happened!" Mion said, giving her a headlock.

"Hey cut it out!" Rena complained.

"Yeah, tell us what happened!" Rika and Satoko chimed in, eyeing Rena mischievously. Dan walked in, and was thoroughly confused at what was going on.

"Did I come back at a bad time? I can come back later when you're done, if you need me to…" The girls stopped their horse playing, and looked back up at Dan.

"Huh? What are you…?" Mion stopped suddenly, and noticed that she had begun to disrobe Rena somehow when she put her in the headlock. The fact that Rena had flailed around trying to get away from Mion caused most of the problem. Both the girls became beet red, and quit what they were doing right away. Dan had diverted his attention elsewhere, giving them a bit of privacy to fix themselves up.

"Y'all better now?" he asked.

"Now we are. What were you talking about outside?" Mion said.

"Oh, nothing major – I just wanted to apologize to the teacher for being such a numbskull in class this past couple of weeks." They looked a little confused about what he was talking about. "You know, while I had been sleeping, and knocking myself around to stay awake?" Everyone let out a collective 'oh…', and nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of that," he continued, "I was actually hoping to talk you about that, and something else that has apparently been contributing to that."

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

"Well, it's complicated since I don't know all the details, but just hear me out, okay?" The girls nodded in agreement, and started to look a bit concerned. "You see, it's like this: I've not been able to sleep for the past few days, because Keiichi talks in his sleep, and he gets pretty loud. Most of the time, I've been able to ignore it, but it's starting to get a tad bit out of control, ya'know? He's not saying anything anymore, but he's screaming out randomly, and he wakes me up every five to ten minutes during the night. The worst part is, HE stays asleep, and doesn't even realize that he's been doing it!"

"What does that have to do with us?" Rena asked, getting a bit nervous, her eyes narrowing.

"Like I said, I don't know exactly what's been going on, but apparently after the day at the dump, and especially yesterday, he told me that you getting on his case when that cop came." Everyone's eyes went narrow, and they focused in him, menacingly. Dan didn't seem to notice, and went on. "I don't know if you have something against police in general, or if it's just that particular officer, but I don't really care about that. I'm just saying if you've got something you'd like to discuss with someone, do it in a more tactful way, ya'know?"

"What's it to you?" Mion asked sharply.

"Huh?" Dan asked, caught off guard by the sudden comment.

"I said what's it to you? Why do you care?"

"Because he's my friend, that's why!" Dan said, getting a bit irritated. "I'd do the same thing for you if you ever asked or needed me to." Mion didn't look very convinced, or seem to care much about what he had just said.

"Is that all you have to say?" she asked.

"No, I've still got something to say. Like I said, I don't care why you dislike police so much, or what you do in your free time about it. I'm just saying you shouldn't let something so stupid be the reason start hating someone. I mean, I've never known you to get so upset over something so trivial before, it's just not like you." Mion looked a bit shocked, and started to back down a bit. "Do you know what I'm saying? We're all friends here, right? I'd like to keep it that way. So, let's just forget about this, and move on, eh?"

"Eh?" Rena said, "When did you go Canadian on us?"

"There's nothing wrong with Canadians! One of my best friends back in the states was Canadian…I guess he rubbed off on me a bit, ya' know?"

"That's all?" Mion asked, ignoring Rena's comment.

"Yeah, that's it. Sorry if I hit a sore spot or two, but I'm pretty sure you'd understand if you took a second to put yourself in his shoes, ya' know?"

"You really don't know anything else?" Mion asked.

"About what? All I know is that I couldn't sleep, and he asked me to talk to you about bugging on him yesterday. What else is there?"

"Well, that's…"

"If it's not that important, there's no need bringing it up, is there?" Everyone fell down on their backs, completely dumbfounded at how dense he really was. He looked at them for a moment, and scratched his head. "Did I say something strange? What's up with you today? You're acting weirder than usual."

"That settles it," Rena said, getting up off the floor, "he's coming home with me to stay!"

"WHAT?" Dan said, leaping back before she could latch on to her. "Where'd that come from…?" Dan looked behind himself, and saw that Satoko and Rika had both grabbed his legs, and wouldn't let go.

"You can't! He's going with us!"

"Wha…? Hold on a moment here! ARGH!" Dan stumbled backwards, and tripped over a chair, hitting his head on the ground. The girls looked at the other, rushed over to him, each securing a limb, and commenced a tug of war. They bantered back and forth about who he should go with, and the reasons why. The more Dan listened to them, the more ridiculous all of them sounded. Dan, not really aware, or able to do much about what was going on, shouted loudly for them to let him go. Startled, they dropped him to the floor, which knocked him silly for a moment. After getting his bearings straight, he stood up, and looked at the girls like they were crazy.

"What's up with y'all today? I mean, I appreciate the attention, but not like this!"

Dan breathed out a heavy sigh, and stared hopelessly into the girls' faces, which looked like he had just reached into their chests, and crushed their hearts. A look of defeat spread across his face, and he could feel his insides tying themselves into knots.

"I'm sorry," he said weakly. "I'm just not good with things like this – I've never really been in a situation like this before."

"Are you really sorry?" Satoko asked.

"Yes, I am. Will you forgive me?" Everyone got a devious look on their faces, which made Dan feel incredibly uncomfortable. "What are you up to?"

"I think we should settle this with a few games," Mion said, "beginning with the king game."

"The king game? What's that about?" Dan asked.

"We pull straws, and whoever draws the king straw, is the king. Everyone else has to obey the command the king issues. Get it?"

"Sounds simple enough…" Dan said. "I hope this stays reasonable; with my luck, that's a situation that seems far-fetched," he thought to himself.

An hour and several embarrassing situations later, everyone was lying on the floor, having laughed so much their sides were sore.

"I think that's enough for the day," Mion said, "I can't take anymore!"

"I agree completely," Dan added. "Too bad Keiichi had to miss this today; I feel bad for the kid."

"Kid?" Rika asked, looking over at Dan. "Aren't you a 'kid' too?"

"I am a few years older than him. Didn't you know that?"

"No, I didn't."

"Oh, well, I'm eighteen."

"Really?" Satoko said. "That's interesting…you're older than he is, but you act a lot less mature than he does."

"Oi vey," Dan said, scratching his head. They all got up, and started packing their things up to go home.

"That reminds me," Rena said, "Mion and I were planning on taking Keiichi a meal, since he probably hasn't had anything decent all day. Will you walk Rika and Satoko home?"

"Sure, I could do that. See you tomorrow?" Dan asked.

"Definitely," Rena said, giving him a devious look. Mion looked at Rena, and got a devious look of her own. She walked over to Dan, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Dan?"

"What is it…?" Mion kissed Dan full on, which shocked Dan half to death. "Wh-whwhw-whwhhw-whh…?"

"I'll be here tomorrow, too." With that, Mion and Rena went on their way. Dan stood their red in the face, unable to move at all.

"My, my," Rika said, lightly elbowing Dan, "You certainly are getting along with those two rather well, aren't you?"

"I…guess. Just wish I knew what I did…"

After waiting a few minutes for Dan to recover from shock, they left for home. The girls' home was a good distance from the school, which took Dan a bit by surprise.

"I didn't realize you lived so far away from the school. Do you always walk to and from school alone?"

"Rena and Mion have offered to come out and walk with us before, but we usually turn them down. We really don't mind it, though."

"I see…" Dan said. "If I knew, I would have offered to pick you up, you know? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"We've always managed just fine by ourselves," Rika said. "That is, until recently."

"Huh? Is something wrong?" Dan asked.

"You really don't know?" Rika asked. Dan shook his head, and looked puzzled. "There's been a murderer on the loose for the past few years. Just last week, there was a recent killing, and we've been a scared about the killer coming around here."

"WHAT?" Dan said, completely blown away. "What…when…why didn't you say anything about that earlier?"

"We were scared, and didn't know who we could talk to about it. We do live alone up here."

"You could have told me!" Dan said, looking at the two as if they had just spit in his face. "I may not know exactly what to do about this, but at least let me try and help you out. I thought we were friends, aren't we?"

"We didn't want to worry you," Rika said, weakly.

"Not telling me worries me even more. It makes me feel like you couldn't trust me, or something. Listen, if you ever need anything just tell me, I'll drop what I'm doing and rush to help you out. The last thing I want for either of you is seeing you get hurt!" Rika gave him a strange look, and stared at him for a moment.

"Do you think you can do that? Can you take care of us?"

"I'll do my best," he replied, undaunted. He looked up, and saw some dust billowing a good distance away from them. It was growing at an alarming rate. "What in the…SHIT!" Dan grabbed the girls, pulled them in close to his body, and jumped out of the way, just as a large white van plowed through the road where they were walking. Both of them shouted loudly, completely rattled about their narrowly missed appointment with their maker.

"The hell? What was that about?" Dan said, looking back toward the van. "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine, thanks to you!" Satoko said.

"That's just screwed up!" Dan growled. "What would drive a…" Dan stopped, seeing that the van had come to a halt, and was now turning around. "Oh, you've got to be shitting me! You two, you hide over there, I'll take care of this."

"Dan! You can't!" Rika shouted, "You could be killed!"

"Don't worry about me!" Dan said, his eyes flashing red, which startled Rika. "I'll take care of these assholes – just hide!" Reluctantly, Rika and Satoko quickly got out of sight. Dan looked at the van, beginning its charge back towards him. He smiled devilishly, whipped out a knife from nowhere; with a single slash, he took a tree down, which fell across the road. He dashed out of the way, and disappeared. The driver of the van could not do anything to slow down in time, so he ended up hitting the fallen tree, and flipping the van, which rolled a few times, and stopped. The van lay motionless for a moment, but shortly after, the door flew open, and a couple of angry men stumbled out. Dan stared as they slowly rose to their feet.

The men looked like they were with some sort of military faction. They were large, burly men, and to say they were angry would be an understatement.

"You're dead meat, buddy! No one fucks with us and gets away with it!" The man pulled out a knife of his own, and barreled at Dan. Dan smirked, dodged easily, and spun around with a roundhouse kick, which landed in the face of the next man, who was right behind the first. He went crashing to the floor, reeling in pain. The first man got back up to his feet, and took another lunge at Dan; Dan laughed openly as he dodged every slash, as if he were dancing. This only proved to irritate the man, with every stroke he took.

"I really don't know what you're so angry about, or what this is all about. Frankly, I don't give a shit, but I suggest you get out of my sight before you regret it," Dan said coldly. It was as if he were a completely different person; Rika and Satoko watched, completely dumbfounded at how Dan was acting.

"I'll be sorry?" the man asked, totally irritated with Dan. "I'd like to see that happened!" The man made a lunge at Dan, completely missing him. This gave Dan a chance to grab his assailant by the wrist, fling the knife out of his hand, and flip him onto his back. Dan ripped his shirt off, turned him over, and hog-tied the man. Just as he finished with the first man, he spun around, landed his fist into the gut of the other man, who he heard charging up behind him. The man let out a groan, and collapsed. Dan made short work of him as well, dragged them over to their van, ripped the bumper off, and secured them to the van by bending the bumper, and slamming it into the car.

"Now, what the hell are you two up to?" Dan asked, glaring menacingly into their eyes. They both refused to say anything, and looked away from Dan. He continued to stare them down for a while longer, and then figured he wasn't going to get anything out of them. He turned away from them, and walked over to where the girls were hiding.

"Are you two okay?" Dan asked, reverting to his old self, as if nothing had just happened.

"Yeah, we're just fine…" Rika said, still shocked at what Dan had just done. "Where did that come from?"

"That?" Dan asked, looking back at the two men. "Oh, that…It's a long story," Dan said, scratching his head. "I'll explain that later. I think right now we better get out of here, before anyone else happens to show up." Satoko and Rika agreed, and they all quickly hurried back.

***

Back at Keiichi's house, Keiichi was starting to get worried that Dan hadn't come back home yet. Oishi hadn't called him back to let him know if he had dropped by the school or not.

"What's up with that officer? He should have called by now. Now it's getting dark, and…" He cut himself short, as he heard the doorbell ring. "I wonder who that is? Maybe it's Oishi!" He rushed down the stairs, opened the door, and was a bit shocked to see Rena and Mion standing there, instead of Oishi.

"Hello Keiichi," Mion said warmly. "How are you feeling?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm much better now, thanks. What are you two doing here?"

"We just wanted to bring by some dinner for you, since we heard your parents were out of town for the week." They handed the meal to Keiichi, and he looked down at it for a moment.

"Why, thanks…" Keiichi froze, and a feeling of panic swept over him. "I hadn't told them that," he thought. "Did Dan tell them?"

"By the way Keiichi, what did you have for lunch today?" Rena asked. Keiichi's feeling of panic apparently swept across his face; the girls took immediate notice of it, and smiled sinisterly.

"I just had a sandwich here at the house, why do you ask?" Mion chuckled devilishly, and shook her head in disgust.

"You're a terrible liar, Keiichi."

"You went to go see that officer at the café in town didn't you?" Rena added. Keiichi dropped his food, and looked as if he had just been stabbed through the heart. "Bringing up the past won't be very good for your health, Keiichi-kun…I'd hate to see something BAD happen to you."

Mion picked up the bento box, and handed it to Keiichi, with a bit of extra force. He took it again, like a lifeless marionette. "Don't forget to eat it all, we want you to get back up to full health quickly." He stared blankly at them, not knowing what had come over his 'friends.' It was scaring him to death, and the girls didn't seem to really care at all. "I made one of those special for you, see if you can figure out which one it is. Oh, one more thing – I don't want you to miss anymore school, got it?"

"See you tomorrow!" Rena said, with a slight laugh. With that, they left Keiichi, completely frightened, almost as if he had his soul searched, and pissed on. He stumbled back into the house, and into the kitchen.

"How'd they know I went to town today?" he thought to himself. Dan couldn't have told them, and no one else could have possibly known. Keiichi was beginning to dread ever having met Tomitake, since things were getting weirder and weirder ever since he had.

"What's this about?" Keiichi asked himself, looking at the little meat rolls. Each had a letter on them, from 'A' to 'E'. He thought about it for a while, trying to figure out what it could possibly mean. Figuring that it didn't really matter, he just picked up a meat roll, and bit into it. Instantly, he jumped with pain, feeling something sharp in his mouth. He spit it out, and found a needle in the midst of the bite he had taken. Filled with feelings of fear and rage, he threw the remainder of the meal across the room, screaming like a maniac.

"What the hell is going on?" he shouted. "Why would they do something like that? I don't understand what they're up to anymore, and it's freaking me out!" After taking out his frustration on the remainder of his 'meal', he knew he had to do something about this, and he wasn't going to stop until he got to the bottom of it. He ran up to his room, and got ready for bed. "If I'm going to figure this out, I need a good night's rest to clear my head as much as possible," he thought to himself.

***

Dan was lying on the couch in Satoko's house, still trying to catch his breath. After leaving the two men in the van to their own devices, Dan figured it would be best to bolt home so they couldn't possibly be followed. Unfortunately, for him, he didn't realize it was a full mile run. Carrying the two girls didn't do much for him, either. The two girls were in the kitchen preparing dinner, talking about the strange events of the day.

"Can you believe how Dan saved us today?" Satoko asked, putting a salad together.

"Hardly," Rika replied. "I would have never pegged him for that kind of person. He certainly doesn't look the type, does he?"

"Not at all; I'm glad he was with us today, though. That van probably would have killed us if he weren't there," Satoko said.

"I know!" Rika said as she finished preparing the fish. "I just hope that he's okay. I didn't know people could run that fast, and for that long"

"We can talk more about this over dinner, though. I'd like to hear what he has to say about all of this."

"Fine by me," Rika replied.

In a few minutes, they finished their preparations, and set the table.

"Dan," Satoko called, "dinner's ready!" Dan got up slowly, and walked into the kitchen. He sat down at his spot ('you're right here, okay?'), and his eyes got wide.

"Whoa, you two! This looks really good!"

"It isn't much, really. We're just glad you're with us tonight," Satoko said, getting a bit flushed.

"No problem."

"Help yourself, Dan, "Rika said, "I hope you like it."

"Are you kidding? If this tastes half as good as it looks, then it's all good with me!" He served up a bit for himself, and started dishing some up for Rika and Satoko. "I'm glad that you're alright, though – that takes a load off my mind. Speaking of that – have you ever seen that white van before?"

"Today was the first time I saw it," Satoko said.

"I hadn't really noticed it before myself," Rika said. "That doesn't mean that it wasn't around, though."

"That's what I'm a bit worried about," Dan said. "If it's been around, I wonder how long they've been around watching you, or any of us, for that matter."

"Did you see a license plate number on the van?" Rika asked.

"Doh – didn't think to look at that…" Dan said, scratching his head. "I just hope this doesn't get crazy on us." Everyone nodded their head, and took a bit of time to work on their meal.

"Oh," Rika said, "Before I forget, there's something I wanted to ask you about." Dan looked up at Rika and stopped eating. "Where did you learn to fight like that? I've never seen anything like that before." Dan smiled, and put his utensils down.

"To tell you the truth, part of my abilities I picked up along the course of my life. It took years of lessons, and…other training."

"What kind of lessons?" Rika asked, focusing in on Dan. Satoko stopped eating, and gave her full attention to Dan.

"Well, I don't want you going around telling everyone if I tell you, okay?" The girls gave a nod of agreement, and Dan took a deep breath. "You see, all started when I dropped out of school when I was fourteen. From there, I started getting involved with the wrong crowd. They didn't seem like a bad lot when I was first getting to know them; I actually really enjoyed hanging around with them. They seemed normal enough to me, so I really didn't think much of it at the time.

"It wasn't until about a month later that I started to notice little things that seemed a bit out of the norm. They tried to keep me from noticing, trying to reason away dropping by late, or leaving early. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt for a while, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to see that something wasn't right.

"My suspicions were confirmed one night, when I went to go meet them at our usual meeting place. By the time I got there, one of my friends was dead on the pavement, and the murder weapon lying on the ground next to him. Being the dumb kid I was, I picked up the gun, and looked at it. Minutes later, the police showed up, they saw me with a gun, and didn't bother to ask any questions. I went straight to the prison, and I stayed there for two years.

"The damn police in my area didn't know what they were doing; they just figured that they found the kid responsible, and that their job was done. It wasn't until the end of those two years, a similar murder occurred, and they found my 'friend' – the one that actually killed the guy I was framed for.

"When they determined that I was innocent, they let me go, and cleared my record completely, but they couldn't ever fix the time that I had to spend in there for me. I decided that I'd get back on track with my life, and started taking self-defense lessons from a few places I heard about in Gainesville. I flew through everything they had to teach me, and figured the next thing to do was start a completely new life. I figured I'd get as far away from everything I used to know as I could, and I ended up here."

The girls stared at him, their eyes watering with tears as he finished his story.

"That's horrible," Satoko cried.

"What about your family? Why didn't they help you?" Rika asked

"They were angry with me having dropped out of school, and when they heard that I got shipped off to Juvenile hall, they didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore. Even after I was cleared, they had forgotten about me, and personally, I didn't even want to try.

"That's why now that I have good friends, I want to stick with y'all, and do whatever I can. I don't want to have a repeat of my past life happening here – I won't stand for it."

"Really, you'll do anything?" Satoko asked, wiping her tears away.

"Anything."

"Then, will you stay here?" she asked, looking at him desperately.

"You…want me to stay here?" he asked, quite surprised.

"Yes, we do. At least until after this murder is caught," Rika said. Dan thought for a moment, looking as if he were debating a life and death crisis in his head. "Is that alright?"

"…I can do that."

"You will? Thank you so much!" Both of the girls jumped out of their chairs, and gave Dan a big hug.

"Alright, alright already! Settle on down, otay?" He smiled at both of the girls, and thought, "I wonder how the others are going to react to this? They should understand if I just explain it to them, right?" The girls let go of him, and sat back down in their own seats.

"Well, as soon as you're finished eating, we can show you to your room," Rika said.

"You already have a room for me? Wow, that's more than I expected…"

"It's no problem really. It was just a guest room anyways, so it wasn't that much of a stretch."

"Groovy!" Rika and Satoko looked at Dan, and then just bust up laughing. "I think I could really get used to this – I never had little sisters before, so this is as close as it's gonna get," Dan thought to himself.

***

Dan got out of bed, and started getting ready for the day. It was still quite early, but since this had been the first good night's rest he had in a long time, it didn't really matter too much. Satoko's house was quite large, which struck Dan as odd – why did two girls need such a large home? For that matter, where were her parents? He hadn't given much thought to it before, since the topic had never come up in regular conversation. It could have been that it was a sore spot for her, and she didn't want to talk about it. Whatever it was, it was making him rather curious.

"I guess I can ask about it later, it's not that important. Oh well, time for some breakfast."

He wandered down the stairs to see that both of the girls were already up before him, and had been working in the kitchen for some time now.

"Good morning, sleepy head. Did you sleep well?" Rika asked, as she finished packing up three bentos.

"Yeah, a lot better than I usually do; thanks." Both girls smiled, and continued with what they were working on. "What time is it anyway?"

"It's just six-thirty. We've got to head out in a half hour to get to school on time." Satoko said.

"Alright."

"Go ahead and sit down, we've got plenty of time for breakfast," Satoko said, as she finished setting the table.

"Dang, this looks great!" Dan exclaimed, and sat down at the table. "I've got to get up earlier next time, so I can help you two out. I didn't realize you two worked so hard all the time."

"We don't mind it," Rika said, taking her place at the table, "we've been doing this for the past year; we're used to it now."

"…I still want to pull my own weight, ya know? What can I do to help out?"

"We can talk about that after school today, if you really want to so bad. Let's just have breakfast, and head out," Rika said, still smiling.

"…Alright. Bon appetite."

After finishing breakfast, everyone got their belongings together, and headed off. When they had been walking for about thirty minutes, they arrived at the waiting spot. Rena and Mion saw them, and waved.

"…Hey, how are ya?" Dan asked.

"Just fine," Rena replied, "where's Keiichi?"

"I assume that he's still at home…I thought he'd-"

"What? Why don't you know?" Mion asked, giving Dan an evil eye.

"I wasn't there last night."

"Where…" Mion stopped a moment, while the gears began turning her head. It didn't take long to figure out, though. "Oh, I see." Rena and Mion both glared evilly at Dan; they cracked their knuckles, and closed in on him. "I didn't know you were in to that kind of thing…"

"What kind of thing?" Dan said, completely oblivious to what the girls were angry.

"He most certainly isn't in to THAT kind of thing!" Satoko said, shooting back a look just as menacing.

"What are you all talking…WHAT? You don't mean, THAT…What they hell are you thinking?" Dan shouted. "That's just retarded…"

"Then what were you doing over there?" Rena asked, still a bit steamed.

"I decided that I was going to move in, since there's a murderer running around." Rena and Mion's eyes narrowed, and it was obvious that they didn't look too happy. "You didn't know? Well have a set down, and I'll run through what I know with you." Reluctantly, they sat down, and Dan ran through what had happened while walking the girls back home, and how he had no idea who the actual murderer was.

"What happened with those men?" Rena asked.

"I called the police, and I haven't heard anything since."

"That's our Dan," Mion said, returning to normal.

"I guess…" Dan said, scratching his head. He looked past the two girls, and saw Keiichi coming around the corner. "Hey, there you are! We're gonna be late!"

"Here I am? Where'd you go last night?" Keiichi asked. Dan ran over to him, and gave him a high five.

"Dude, what's up…?" Keiichi forced a grin, while trying to keep his other arm behind his back. Dan kept trying to look, while Keiichi kept turning away from him. "Keiichi, why do you have a baseball bat? I didn't know you played baseball."

"Oh, this?" Keiichi asked, as if it had just magically appeared in his hand. "I was…gonna start. I just needed to work on my swinging,"

"That sounded about as convincing as a shady salesman," Dan said.

"I am, really!" Keiichi said.

"Dude, relax! I was just giving you a hard time." Keiichi laughed weakly, and nodded. "I can help you after school if you'd like."

"O…okay," Keiichi said.

"I've got a lot to talk about with Keiichi today…" Dan thought to himself.

***

"I think the teacher likes the fact that I'm sleeping better…" Dan said, after the rest of the class had left.

"I think you're right…" Mion said, still rather shocked that Dan had stayed awake and alert the entire time. "What are you doing differently?"

"I'll talk about it with you later…" Dan said, eyeing Keiichi, who was still off in his own little world. It was painfully obvious that something was on his mind, and it was bugging the hell out of him.

"I understand," Mion said, looking a bit disappointed.

"I've had enough of school for the day! It's time for some games!" Rena shouted. Satoko and Rika cheered as well, as they began rummaging through the game closet.

"…I think I'm going to skip out today, I've got to work on my swing for a bit," Keiichi said, weakly. Dan got up from his seat, and headed over to the door.

"I'll head out with him for a few minutes, and then I'll be right back." The girls looked a bit concerned, but didn't do anything unusual. Dan grabbed Keiichi by the arm, and hurried him outside.

"Hey Dan! What's the matter?" Keiichi asked.

"I'm going to be painfully blunt – why are you so uppity today? Something's on your mind, and it's obvious you didn't want to discuss it with the rest of us. What's wrong?" Keiichi breathed out a heavy sight, and ran through the events of the previous night. The more Dan heard, the more shocked he looked.

"I don't know what's going on myself, but I want to be sure that I can defend myself if I need to."

"Dude, not to bust your bubble, but a baseball bat is a bit extreme. It begs the question, why the sudden urge to 'pick up' baseball? Sounds a bit fishy to me…"

"Why's that?"

"Unless you've spoken with a coach, I doubt you could get on a team. Baseball season's been going for a few weeks now; tryouts are pretty much out of the question as well."

"Well, what do you suggest that I do then?" Keiichi asked.

"I'll handle it." Dan reached in his pocket, and pulled out a pager. "Take this."

"A pager? How's this gonna help?"

"Just press that button – it will send a message to me instantly, & I'll be there within a minute if anything comes up, okay?" Keiichi looked a bit puzzled.

"How's this going to help in a real emergency? It only takes one second to kill someone with a gun…"

"Look, d'ya want my help, or not?"

"…If you say so, I'll trust you." Dan nodded, and grinned. "Now, about yesterday - where were you last night?" Dan quickly ran through what he had gone through with the girls the other day, and his reasoning for his decision.

"Geez, sounds like you've got enough problems yourself…. Is that the only time you've seen those guys?"

"Yeah it is. If they've been around before, I haven't noticed them until then," Dan said. "I wonder why the girls got all bent on you about talking to that Oishi guy? It seems a bit nutty to me."

"You're telling me…I'm the one who's had to deal with it."

"Well, like I said, if you need a hand with something, I'll do what I can to take care of it. I'm sorry that it seems to be getting worse, though. I'll give it one more go, and if that doesn't work, I'll talk to the principal or the police – or both."

"Okay, thanks Dan," Keiichi said, putting on a weak, but sincere smile.

"Now give me that bat, before I beat you with it."

"That's not funny."

Keiichi walked home alone that afternoon, feeling a bit better since he had a talk with Dan. The gaming session, which he had skipped for the past few days, was awkward and uncomfortable. It felt like everyone was against him except Dan, who tried reasoning with the girls every chance he got. It was nice that he had a friend in him, but now that Dan had decided to move in with Rika and Satoko, he was alone again. He wondered what other crazy things he was going to have to deal with, at least until his parents got back.

"I wish this whole thing would just blow over, and leave me alone," he thought to himself. "That, and if things went back to the way they were before, I'd…" He cut himself short, having thought he had heard a sound of some sort behind him. He whipped around quickly, to see no one there. "Sheesh, I must be losing my…"

"What?" replied a familiar voice, with an ice-cold tone. "What did you forget?" Keiichi spun around again, to see Rena standing a few feet away from him, holding the large billhook in her hand.

"Nothing…nothing at all – I was just talking to myself," Keiichi said, backing up as Rena continued to advance.

"About what? Are you afraid of something?" Rena said, cocking her head to the side, and her eyes narrowing in on Keiichi.

"Someth…no! Not at all…I was just thinking about Dan having moved…"

"LIAR!" Rena shouted, startling the crap out of Keiichi, causing him to fall to the ground. He scrambled back, and backed up against a tree. Rena continued to advance, her kind face replaced with one of hatred. A disturbing smile spread across her face as she raised her billhook, ready to bring it down on Keiichi.

"What the hell are you doing?" Keiichi shouted.

"Finishing this, once and for all!" Rena said, and began laughing hysterically. Keiichi's mind raced, and he did the only thing he could think of – he kicked Rena in the leg, making her to lose her balance, and fall to the ground. Keiichi got up and ran for all he was worth, not bothering to look back and see if he she was following him. He kept going until he thought he had lost Rena. He looked back, and couldn't see her anywhere. He leaned up against a tree, and struggled to get his breath back.

"What the hell? Why is this happening to me?" he moaned. He stood there for a few minutes huffing and puffing. A good twenty minutes passed before he felt ready to go again. Once he determined that everything was clear, he set off at a walking pace. Having had a direct attempt on his life, at the hand of one of his 'best friends,' his mind was totally frazzled. It was all he could do to lock his mind on getting home, and locking himself into his room. These past few events that happened over the past week were really starting to eat him up inside. It was as if someone was toying with his life behind the scenes, just for the hell of it. Whatever it was, he was going to put an end to it.

"Ah, that's it! I can call up Oishi and tell him about this – why didn't I think of that sooner?" He started to pick up the pace a bit, given a new sense of drive to go off. He didn't get very far before he noticed a sort of humming coming from behind him, growing louder and louder. He turned to a white van – similar to the one Dan had dealt with the other day. "What the…it's heading right for me!" He leapt out of the way, just in time to avoid being flattened like a pancake. The van screeched to a halt, and spun around to make another round. "What's going on here?" he shouted. He looked around frantically for a place to hide, or run away to, but nothing was close enough. He reached into his pocket, and grabbed the pager. "I sure hope this works," he said, and pressed the button. It lit up for a moment, and went blank. He tried it again, but it didn't light up again. He started to panic, not knowing was wrong with it, and he didn't have a lot of time before the van would be back. "Damn piece of garbage!" he shouted, and threw it off into the distance. He turned to run again, just in time to see a large cloud of dust coming toward him. Before he even had a chance to react, someone picked him up, and he disappeared deep in the forest.

"Geez dude, you've got to be a bit more patient than that!" Dan said, placing the pager back into Keiichi's hand. "Those girls do live a good distance away from your house, ya know?"

"I'm sorry," Keiichi said, "I've just had two attempts on my life in the past half hour, and I'm not ready for anymore surprises."

"What? What happened?" Dan said, putting Keiichi back down. Keiichi quickly explained, and Dan listened intently. "Damn, that's just messed up big-time! I had no idea that Rena would do such a thing."

"What about these other guys?" Keiichi asked.

"I think these are some of the same guys I ran into the other day…you just get out of here, & I'll take care of those jokers. Just head straight until you get out of the forest, and you should be able to find your way home from there."

"Well, wait a moment – are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine – don't worry about me. You've got nothing to worry about – just get!" Keiichi nodded and bolted out of the forest as quickly as he could. Dan watched until he had completely vanished from sight, and let out a sigh of relief. He cracked his knuckles, and his neck to loosen up a bit. "Well, with Keiichi gone, I don't have to worry about holding back, now do I?" He jumped up into a tree, and waited a moment for the men to come by.

"Did you see where that guy went?" one of them said.

"No – it's like he just… UMPH !"

"Just like what?" The man turned to see where his friend was, just to see nothing but where they had come from. "Ed? Where'd you go?" There was a ruffling sound from up in the trees, followed by a loud cracking sound. Frightened, the man readied his rifle, and pointed in the direction of the sounds he just heard. "Freeze or I'll shoot!" For a moment, there was no noise. Worried, the man approached slowly, gun still at the ready. "Show yourself!" Suddenly, there was a thud behind the man; instinctively, he spun around, and unloaded a few rounds. Whatever he had shot twitched for a moment, and then lay motionless. He approached it, and poked it with his rifle. Upon taking a closer look, he gasped in surprise. "What? Ed?" He backed away slowly, as a sick feeling came over him. "What in the world?"

"You shouldn't be here…"

"Freeze!" The man spun around, to see no one yet again. "Where the hell…"

"What do you want? Who are you working for?"

"None of your damn business!" he shouted, shooting randomly.

"I really don't like your attitude, mister…"

"Well that's just too damn bad, buddy!" the man shouted.

"You can say that again!" He turned around, to see Dan with a wicked look on his face. The man instinctively shot a few more rounds, but missed as Dan instantly vanished from sight once again.

"Where'd you go?"

"Right here," Dan said. Several more rounds fired; the man was fuming, and was beginning to lose his focus.

"Quit moving around!"

"What's wrong? I thought you were a trained professional; can't you take out a single target?"

"Shut up!" the man erupted. "Stand still so I can shoot you!"

"Alright – go ahead and shoot me – I'm right behind you." The man turned around, and shoved the gun right into Dan's chest.

"See ya… Click , Click , Click …?"

"What's the matter? Out of bullets?" The man threw his gun down, and pulled out a knife.

"I've had enough of you!" the man said, slashing angrily at Dan.

"Oh? That's unfortunate…I'm just getting started." Dan dodged each stroke from the man, who was getting angrier and angrier by the second.

"Quit fucking with me!" he shouted.

"You should have thought about the consequences for your actions earlier. I don't take too kindly to people like you." Dan slid about ten feet back, and began stretching, as if he were getting ready to work out. "You must be new to this whole henchman thing, or something…when are you going to get serious?"

"That's it! You're dead meat!" The man roared, lunging at Dan. Dan smiled, simply sidestepped as the man narrowly missed. Dan grabbed the man's arm, sharply slammed his fist into his gut, spun the man around, and landed a kick into the man's back. The man lay on the ground, sprawling in pain, barely able to breathe. Dan stripped the man, and tied him up with his pants. He tossed the man near his dead partner, and threw his knife inches away from his crotch, up to the hilt in the ground.

"Now," Dan said, walking toward the man slowly, "I'm only going to ask you once – what do you want?" The man laughed, and looked at Dan.

"It wouldn't matter even if I told you…you'll never be able to stop us all."

"Why are you people always so cocky? I'll never understand…" Dan pulled out his cell phone, and called the police. "I hope Keiichi got home alright," he thought to himself. As the call was connecting, Dan heard something in the distance, getting slowly closer. He shook his head, and let out a sigh. "It's going to be one of those days, isn't it?" Dan vanished from sight, and took cover. In seconds, a large group of soldiers appeared, which came charging into the opening of the forest where Dan and the other men had fought moments ago.

"Freeze!" the soldier shouted. "Huh? Where'd he go?"

"Déjà vu, eh?" Dan thought to himself. "It looks like there's about ten of them; this shouldn't take too long…" Dan leapt down from where he was hiding, and began to brawl with them.

"Hey! Here he – ARGH!" the man was cut short as Dan landed a kick straight into his chin, sending him flying headlong into a tree.

"Stop him!" The men opened fire on Dan, who dodged effortlessly. He weaved in and out of sight for a moment, and then appeared directly behind another guy. He jumped up, grabbed a tree branch, wrapped his legs around the man's neck, and quickly twisted, snapping it like a twig. The man dropped to the ground, and Dan vanished again.

"Come on men, he's only a kid – this shouldn't be…GRK!"

"SIR!" The other men gazed in horror, as they watched the commander's head slide right off, and roll to the ground. "What the…AH!" Another soldier flew headlong into a tree, propelled by a knife, which lodged itself into the tree, right through his back.

"That's it! I'm out of here!" The other men began to run, but began dropping like flies as single shots were fired from varying locations in the forest, until all the men were dead. The remaining officer sat there in horror, was completely awe struck; trying to figure out how a single boy had done all that damage left his mind completely fried.

"What the hell is he?" he said, as he watched Dan stroll off casually.

"The next time I see you, you'll end up like them; understand?" With that, Dan vanished from sight.

***

Keiichi sat panting in his room, trying to catch his breath. His mind was racing, wondering if his friend was all right; having heard multiple gunshots, and screaming while making his escape made him feel terribly uncomfortable. He felt fortunate to have gotten away unharmed, but now he was worried about Dan. Everything happened so quickly that he didn't have any time to think about what was happening. The weather was beginning to act like everything else in his life up to this point – unpredictable and chaotic. It looked like a storm was coming in, and it wasn't going to be a quick one.

"I don't know how I'm even going to face going to school in the morning," he thought to himself. "There's no way I can trust Rena anymore, and I don't even know about what the other girls are capable of! This whole situation is just going straight to hell…" The phone began to ring, which caught Keiichi off guard. He scrambled across the room to answer it. "H-h-hh-hello?"

"Keiichi, this is officer Kuraudo – are you alright?"

"Well, I am now! If it wasn't for Dan, I'm not sure if I would be…"

"What? Were you with Dan?"

"…yeah, I was for the last little bit. That's because I called him – how'd you know?" Keiichi asked.

"He called the department, but didn't answer when we picked up. We finished tracing his phone call just a moment ago. That's when I decided to call you, to see if everything was okay."

"What? Do you know if he's okay?"

"Huh? Isn't he there with you?" Oishi asked.

"He decided that he was going to move out, and live with Satoko and Rika."

"When did he decide to do that?

"Yesterday," Keiichi said. "I guess they had a run in with the same group of people I did a while ago."

"What do you mean?" Keiichi explained the situation to Oishi, how Rena had made the attempt on his life. He also explained how he had happened to run into the strange group of men.

"You are one unlucky kid," Oishi said. "I'm sorry for getting you involved in this mess. We should all be able to rest a lot easier once this is all over. I'll make sure of that."

"Thanks," Keiichi said, wiping his forehead off. "OH! The other day, Rena and Mion came by; they were acting incredibly strange, bordering on hostile."

"How do you mean?"

"They asked me how my day had been. I figured it wouldn't be good to tell them that I had met with you, so I told them I stayed home. Somehow, they knew that I had met with you, even though they were at school all day.

"They brought a meal over for me, and left. After I took a bite of one of them, I found a needle inside it!"

"What? Are you certain?"

"I swear on my life!"

"Do you still have that? We can use that as evidence!"

"I think so, I'll be right back!" Keiichi bolted downstairs, and scrambled through the kitchen. To his dismay, however, the kitchen was immaculately clean, with no sign of the needle. His face suddenly went completely white, and it felt like someone had dropped a bomb in his gut. Returning upstairs at about half the speed he had come down, he picked up the phone, and groaned out that it was gone.

"Damn, what happened to it?"

"That's what I'm worried about – I don't know. My parents are still gone until this weekend, and I was gone with you for most of the day. I know that I didn't throw it out; someone else must have…"

"Really? Are you sure? Dan might have stopped by; did you ask him?"

"No, I didn't think to ask him. I'm not sure who else could have gotten in and done it, there weren't any signs of a break in, either."

"Well, if anything happens, be sure to let me know, I'll be over to help as quickly as possible."

"I'll be sure to remember that if anything…" The doorbell rang suddenly. Keiichi looked outside his window to see who was there. He couldn't see clearly who it was from his room. "Is that Dan?"

"Keiichi? Everything okay?"

"I think so; it looks like someone's at the door. I'll call you right back if something happens."

"Alright." Keiichi hung up, and hurried down to answer the door. He left the chain engaged, and slowly opened the door. It flung open to the chains limit, which startled him, making him leap back a few steps, and cautiously looked outside.

"Keiichi? Can I come in?"

"Rena? What are you doing here?" Keiichi said while resisting the urge to slam the door closed again.

"I came by to apologize for earlier today, and I made you something for dinner." Keiichi stood his ground, struggling to figure out what was really going on. Deep down he wanted to believe that his friend was out there, and that she really cared about him enough to bring him a meal. However, due to recent events, he wasn't completely sure what to expect from anyone, especially Rena. "Can I come in…or is something wrong?" The all too familiar look that had been striking fear into Keiichi's heart spread across Rena's face once again.

"I actually just ate thanks."

"You could save it for later on tonight, you know, when you decide to call officer Kuraudo again." Keiichi panicked, and froze instantly.

"How could she know that I was just talking to him?" he screamed in his mind. "I really think that I'll pass on that, if you don't mind…"

"Open the door, Keiichi…" Rena said, staring him down through the crack. When he didn't move, she reached inside, and started feeling around to unlock the door. Keiichi grabbed the doorknob, and slammed the door shut, smashing Rena's fingers in the process.

"GO AWAY!" Keiichi shouted, pulling for all he was worth.

"Keiichi! You're hurting me! Please stop!" Rena begged. It seemed that the sudden infliction of pain caused Rena to come back to her cheery old self, but her actions definitely didn't show it. They both struggled for a good thirty seconds, until Rena was finally able to pull her hands out of the door, which slammed the instant she was free. Keiichi relocked everything he could, and ran back upstairs, where he felt it was safe. He instantly picked up the phone, and re-dialed Oishi's number.

"…"

"…"

"…hello?"

"Officer! Rena just came by, and something was really wrong with her!"

"What? What happened? Do you need someone sent over?"

"I don't think so; I just wanted to call and let you know what happened…" Keiichi paused for a moment, and looked out the window. It was now raining outside, and Rena was standing right where Keiichi could see her. She was staring right at him, and saying something, repeatedly. "It looks like she's saying something."

"What is she saying? Can you tell?" It took him a while, but eventually it clicked.

"…I'm sorry." Keiichi backed up out of sight, and finished his conversation with Oishi. He crept into bed, and tried to get to sleep.

Meanwhile, Rena was still standing outside, staring up at Keiichi's window. From nowhere, Dan started strolling down the road, holding an umbrella. It took a while for Rena to notice that he had come along.

"Where the hell did this rain come from? It was…Rena? Is that you?"

"…Huh?" Rena said, snapping back to normal. "What are you doing here, Dan?"

"What am I doing here? A better question is, what are YOU doing here outside in the rain; you're soaked! What's going on?"

"I came by to bring Keiichi something for dinner, and the next thing I knew, he slammed the door! I don't know if he realized my hands were in the door when he slammed it; I was barely able to get them out without causing any major damage."

"What? That's crazy!" Dan said, while looking at Rena's hands. "I didn't think he'd do something like that…" Dan thought. "Come to think of it, what was she doing with her hands in the door in the first place?"

"I don't know, but he really scared me," Rena said. "I was just trying to do something nice for him, since it looked like he's been really high strung lately."

"That's true; but that's no excuse for how he acted toward you." He frowned, and looked up at Keiichi's window. "It seems that a lot of strange things are happening lately." Rena looked a bit puzzled, so Dan explained what they had been through on the way home, how the soldiers appeared out of nowhere, and how they had nearly killed Keiichi. Rena looked completely horrified, unable to respond at all. Dan realized that it seemed a bit too much to dump on someone all at one time. "Are you alright?"

"…Are you serious? That's absolutely crazy!"

"You're telling me! I can hardly believe this stuff is happening, too! Plus, this is the second time it happened…you remember I explained that the other day, right?" Rena nodded weakly; it looked like the rain and the cold were starting to get to her. "Geez, I'm a total moron! Let's get you back home, and out of this crappy weather."

They started walking back to Rena's house. They hadn't gotten that far when Rena began to falter with each step she took; moments later, she fell to the ground. Dan stopped, and caught her.

"Rena? What's the matter?"

"I'm just a little tired, that's all…" Dan shook his head, and checked her temperature.

"Geez! You're burning up! I've got to get you back home quick!" Rena didn't respond; her eyes closed, and her breathing became shallower. "Hey, are you okay?" He shook his head, and mentally kicked himself in the pants. "That was a stupid question, now wasn't it?" Dan picked her up, and ran off for her house.

By the time that they got to Rena's house, it was pitch black. Her dad's car was gone, and there was no sign of life in the house. Rena was still out cold, and getting worse by the minute.

"What the hell were you doing standing out in the rain without anything to keep you dry?" Dan groaned to himself. "I just keep getting more and more confused with this bunch of kids…" Dan carried her up to her room, and laid her on her bed, then wandered over to the bathroom to look for a towel, and a first aid kit. He fumbled around for a few minutes, since he wasn't too familiar with her home. Eventually, he found everything he thought he needed, and went back to her room. She was still out, and breathing deeply. Dan began drying her off, and looked at her hands; several layers of skin had been ripped away, but the bleeding had slowed considerably.

"This looks wonderful…" Dan said. He began to attend to her injuries, though he couldn't help but stare at her face the entire time. Something was seriously wrong with this whole situation, and it just wasn't clicking for him. "This whole thing is strange; first they hate me, now they hate Keiichi! I can't say I noticed him doing anything to warrant this drastic of a change in attitude."

It didn't take too long to finish up with her hands. Dan checked her temperature again; she was still rather hot. Her clothes were still completely soaked. Suddenly Dan felt as if a jolt of electricity shot through him. "Oh, this is just great…just what I wanted to deal with today." He shook his head, and groaned for a few minutes before coming to terms with what he had to do. "I've gotta get her out of those wet clothes, or she'll just get worse…" He walked over to Rena's dresser, and got some fresh clothes out. He looked at the clothes, and then he looked over at Rena. "I sure hope you're completely out…"

"…Where am I?" Rena asked, getting up from bed. "When did I get home?" She got up cautiously, and started looking around the room. Nothing looked suspicious, but the element of doubt was still there. As she continued to search the house, she noticed there was a pleasant smell coming from downstairs. She walked down, and found a simple meal spread on the table. She looked around to see who had prepared it. There was a dull roar coming from the living room. "What the…?" She rounded the corner, and saw Dan lying on the couch, fast asleep.

"Dan?" Rena asked, "Why is he…" She stopped as the previous day's events came back to her. She flushed red, and looked at her hands. "He…he completely took care of…" She sat down on the couch, and started running her hands through his hair. "What am I going to do with you, Dan?" She paused, and put her hand on his forehead. "You're burning up!"

"Huh?" Dan groaned, waking up.

"You're sick! When did…?"

"…It's nothing. I just needed to lie down for a few minutes; don't worry about me." Dan got up off the couch, and began staggering toward the front door.

"I don't think you should be moving around so much right now!" Rena said, trying to get him sit back down.

"Yo, don't worry about it, I'll be fine." He gave a weak smile, as he leaned against the wall. "Now, go ahead and eat your breakfast."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Rena asked, still looking rather worried.

"No worries, this is nothing, honestly. I'll be over this in a little bit. I don't get sick often."

"What about when you do actually get sick?"

"I wouldn't be able to stand. Now, quit fussing about me, I'll be fine, you can count on that." Rena gave him a strange look, but did as he asked. Dan stood still the entire time, looking as if he had all the life sucked out of him. Rena watched him carefully, making sure that he was all right. Nothing changed the entire time she was eating, and after finishing, she walked up to the door, and he snapped right to attention, opened the door, and headed on their way to school. They got to the usual meeting spot where the others were already waiting. Everyone gasped from shock, one for Rena and Dan walking to school together once again; the fact that Dan looked like he was one of the walking dead didn't help the situation.

"Geez, it's like you two are already married! You two have a 'rough' night?" Mion asked. Dan's facial expression didn't change, but Rena started chasing Mion around, screaming obscenities, and making a scene.

"Are you alright?" Rika asked, "We were really worried when you didn't come home last night."

"It's a long story, and I don't feel like getting into it right now. I do apologize for making you worry, though. It was something that couldn't be helped."

"I see," she said, looking a little bit relieved.

"Where's Keiichi?" Dan asked. The girls all froze, and stopped what they were doing.

"Why do you want to know about him?" Rena asked, giving him an ice-cold look. Dan took notice this time, but stood his ground.

"Why not? He is my friend, and from what I could tell the other day, he was having a REALLY bad day."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, he did have multiple attempts on his life in just one day might have something to do with it. (I would know…)" Dan said, looking away shamefully.

"You don't need to worry about him; you have all of us to look out for you now." Dan felt his heart drop to into his stomach.

"…What? What are you…?"

"Don't worry about it, Dan. After today he won't even be an afterthought." Dan lost all the strength he had, and fell to his knees, barely staying upright.

"Are you alright?" Mion asked.

"How could I be? Do you even hear yourself?" Dan asked, struggling to get back up to his feet. "It makes me wonder if all of YOU are alright."

"What are you saying, Dan?" Mion asked, giving him a strange look.

"I'm saying that comment, and the way you're all acting is wigging me out a bit - that's what I'm saying. You understand, right?"

"We understand perfectly what you're saying. Now it's your turn to understand something – we've picked you over Keiichi because he couldn't keep his nose out of other people's business. After tonight, that's not going to matter anymore." Dan froze, and went white as a sheet. It was exactly what Keiichi had been warning him about all this time, and he was just too stubborn to admit that he was right. "What are you going to do, Dan? Are you going to choose us, or Keiichi? The choice is up to you, but you're going to have to stick with it; there'll be no turning back."

"Why does it have to come down to this?" Dan cried. "What did he ever do to hurt any of you? Can you at least tell me that?" No one said anything, completely ignoring him. It was hard for Dan to imagine that these sweet girls had such a dark side, and actually wanted to kill Keiichi. He knew that he couldn't let this happen, but he had no idea how he was going to stop it.

"Is everything alright here?" a voice asked, which caught everyone's attention instantly. It was Oishi, wearing a casual smile. The girls froze, and put on a neutral face, while Dan was still struggling for energy.

"Well," the girls started.

"...It's nothing," Dan said, "I'm just feeling a bit under the weather, and I fell down."

"Are you sure everything is okay?" Oishi asked, not looking completely convinced.

"Yeah, I'll be just fine. I stayed outside in the rain too long yesterday helping a friend, and I guess I got sick instead. Obviously, it's really starting to get to me."

"Do you need to go to the doctor? You can hop in and I'll take you over to Dr. Irie's clinic."

"No, I think I'll be alright. I'll just be sure to get plenty of rest tonight."

"Okay, if you're completely sure…" Oishi said, just to make sure.

"No worries – it'll be okay. I do appreciate your offer, though. See you around, okay?" Oishi nodded, and drove off slowly. Everyone stood still until he had vanished from sight. Dan started to head toward the school, and the girls stood there in amazement for a few moments before snapping back into reality.

"Dan! Wait up a minute," Mion called. He stopped and looked back at them with tear-stained eyes, but he had a smile on his face. "What's wrong?" Dan paused for a moment, and walked back to them.

"I care about ALL of my friends, no matter what they've done, or what anyone else THINKS that they've done – I don't really care. You been like my family since I've come over here, and I don't want anything to happen to any of you." They didn't say anything, staring shamefully at the ground. Dan put his hand on Rena & Mion's shoulders. "Y'all've got nothing to worry about, especially if you haven't done anything wrong. Even if you did, like I said – it's none of my business, and I don't intend to make it my business. I just want you to leave Keiichi alone, and I'll never ask you for anything ever again." The girls gave him a suspicious look. Dan frowned, went down on his knees, and started begging. "I'll do anything you want, if you just do this one thing for me. Please?"

"Do you mean that? You'll do anything?" Mion asked.

"Of course – have you ever known me to go back on my word?" Dan asked.

"That's true, I can't remember a time you've lied to me, or any of us, for that matter." The girls huddled together, and discussed the matter for a few minutes. Dan sat there and waited while they discussed his friend's fate, wondering exactly what they were saying. Eventually, it looked like they had reached a conclusion, and they turned to face Dan.

"Well, I suppose we can let it go, if he's willing to drop it all as well," Mion said.

"I agree…" Rena said. Rika and Satoko smiled, and nodded in agreement as well.

"You will?" Dan said, completely shocked. He picked everyone up, and gave them a big hug, spun around, which caught them all off guard. "Thank you so much!" Suddenly, he was reminded of just how ill he was when all his energy left him, and he fell down. Everyone landed with a thud, and got up slowly.

"What was that all about?" Satoko asked. "Get up, clumsy!" Dan didn't move, and his breath was terribly shallow. "What's the matter with you, Dan? Are you okay?" Rena quickly got down, and felt his forehead. "Oh no! I knew he should have stayed home today! We've got to get him some help quick!" Everyone grabbed one of his limbs, and began carrying him to the clinic.

When they got there, they all but dropped him on the couch in the receptionists' office.

"Good heavens! What happened to him?" the nurse asked.

"He suddenly collapsed on the way to school. I think it might have something to do with the fact that he stayed out in the rain last night a bit too long," Rena said.

"How long has he been like this, then?"

"He was pretty sluggish this morning. My guess is that he's been getting worse ever since, but he said that he was okay." The nurse shook her head, and began gathering equipment to do tests. "You all better get to school; I'll let you know how he is later." The girls agreed, and left for class.

***

They walked in, they saw that Keiichi was sitting in the back corner of the room, looking as if he had completely zoned out. His face was completely pale, and the girls hardly recognized him. Mion walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He jolted, nearly falling out of his chair, and then backed up against the wall.

"What do you want?" he shouted. Mion recoiled, and gave him a worried look.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing, that's all."

"Really? Is that so?" he said, getting up from his chair. "I don't believe you, and quite frankly, I've had enough of all of you!"

"What are you talking about?" Mion asked.

"Don't play innocent with me, I know about you and your past, and looking at how things are now, it all makes sense." Mion took a few steps back, looking seriously offended.

"What are you saying Keiichi? What's the matter with you?

"You remember the time when you…" He was cut short as Rena slapped him in the face. He was shocked, but not all that surprised.

"You JERK! We came to here to apologize because Dan asked us to, and this is how you act?"

"Dan asked you to?" Keiichi asked.

"Yes, because he thinks of you as one of his friends."

"Where is he now?" Keiichi asked.

"He's at the clinic because he got sick taking care of me all last night. Thanks to him, I'm okay, but he isn't." Keiichi couldn't think of anything to say to that. The constant changing of moods from this sweet and innocent group of girls, to that of a twisted type of serial killer, kept him so far gone from reality that he could find a handle to grab.

"…How bad is he?"

"I don't know, but we ought to know by the end of school today. I just thought you should know that."

The girls sat down, and completely ignored him for the entire day, communicating only when necessary. The whole class felt completely down in spirits from the bad moods radiating from the group. For Keiichi, it seemed like the longest day of his life. It was like a bad mix between the feelings that come from anticipation on Christmas morning, and that of a prisoner having his name announced to be the next in line for the electric chair. Rena and Mion were thinking along the same line, but more particularly, about what they were going to do with Keiichi. They both knew what Dan had asked of them, but they knew that things would be so much better without having Keiichi around to screw up their lives. One less thorn in their side would be a welcome treat indeed, but getting him out of the way without Dan knowing would be impossible. They knew that he had some idea of what they were planning, and that any mishap that came on Keiichi would send up red flags instantly. They would have to make it appear to have been some sort of accident, extremely convincing at that.

"How should we do this?" Rena whispered. "Tonight might be the only time to do it, seeing as we wouldn't have to worry about Dan finding out right away. He might not be out of the clinic for a day or two. That's plenty of time for us to come up with something."

"I agree," Mion said. "We should talk about this later, though. I've already got something in mind, so I'll fill you in on it later." They both nodded, and went on with their studies.

***

Keiichi walked home alone that day, like it had been for the past couple of days. The nurse didn't have any good news to share on Dan's condition.

"…He isn't doing so great, kids. From what I can tell, pneumonia has already set in. It also looks like he's been under a high level of stress, probably due to the fact that he hasn't had a good night's rest for the past week."

"Is he going to be okay?" Keiichi asked.

"If he gets some rest, and remembers to take this medication twice a day, he should pull out of it in about a week."

Keiichi continued down the dusty road, a bit quicker than that of a snail pace, not knowing what to expect when he got home. The girls hadn't spoken to him at all, his parents were gone for a few more days, and he'd be alone again. Things didn't look promising, and it seemed as if it would be a week before he had a real friend again.

"Damn it, this is bad," he groaned to himself. "I'd better lay low for a bit, and try to be a bit kinder to the girls. Maybe they'd stop coming down on me so hard if I take the initiative. I just a night to regroup, that's all."

When he arrived at home, he locked everything down instinctively, and wandered up to his room. He dumped his books on his bed, and started reading. As he was reading, he felt an icy cold feeling run down his spine, which startled him half to death. He spun around, just to see nothing but his own room.

"I have a really bad feeling about today for some reason…"

Meanwhile, back at Rika and Satoko's house, Dan was trying to sleep in the front room on the couch, while the other two girls were making dinner. He was in and out of reality, and felt like crap. Rika walked in, and checked up on his condition.

"Do you feel up to having anything?"

"Not really, but I probably should anyway…" She smiled, walked back into the kitchen, and got a bowl of soup for him. He sat up, and gave a weak smile of his own.

"I'm really sorry for all of this. I didn't mean to get sick, and have to have two to take care of me like this."

"Don't be silly, we don't mind at all," Rika said, sitting down next to him. "You just need to hurry up and get better. We just don't want to lose you," Rika said, staring off into the distance.

"What are you talking about? This is nothing! I'll be just … COUGH !"

"I'm so convinced…" Rika said, rolling her eyes. "Just don't push yourself too hard for the next little bit, the nurse said that it'll be bad for your health." Dan simply nodded, and decided to just admit defeat. They sat there for a while, not saying anything to each other.

RING RING RING

"I'll get that. Wait right here – I'll be right back," Rika said, snapping back into reality. Dan nodded, and started eating his soup.

"Hello?"

"Rika, is Dan there?" asked a familiar voice.

"Yes, he is, just…"

"You don't need to get him; I just wanted to make sure he was there."

"Who is this?" Rika asked, getting a bit irritated.

"It's Mion. Like I said, I was just calling to see if he was there, and if he was all right. I think Rena and I will drop by in an hour to see how he's doing. Sound good?"

"Yeah, that's great! I'll see you in an hour." Rika walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Dan.

"Who was that?"

"It was Mion. She was calling to let us know she plans to drop by in about an hour to see how you're doing."

"Really? That's nice of her – is Rena dropping by, too?"

"Yes." Dan smiled, and continued with his meal. He waited until Rika had left the room, and made sure that both girls could no longer see him. He frowned, and stared out the window.

"What are they up to?" he thought to himself. "They don't live that far away… it shouldn't take them an hour to get here. Something sounds weird about this…" Dan felt a chill run down his spine, and knew that something wasn't right. "They never did agree to call off 'taking care' of Keiichi, did they? I've gotta bust out of here, and check on him!" He got up, and snuck out of the house quietly, then broke into a dead run.

"…So Dan, how was…?" Rika gasped, and dropped what she was doing.

"What's the matter Rika?" Satoko asked.

"Dan's not here! He was just a moment ago, and now he's not!"

"What?"

Meanwhile, back at Keiichi's house, he was lying in his bedroom thinking about the day; he was wondering if his life would ever return to normal. Right now, he wasn't looking forward to any type of visitors – he just wanted to be left alone.

"I don't know what those girls problem is lately, but I could really do without their crap for the rest of my life. No one goes through these kinds of things normally…I wonder why I'm so special now?"

He turned and looked at the phone, which remained lifeless.

"I wonder if Oishi was able to figure anything else out? I sure hope he does. I'm getting tired of living like this." Keiichi paused his ranting for a moment, and listened in closely. It sounded like a door had opened, and shut quietly, but he wasn't sure. He got up to check what the noise was, got to the door, and was completely shocked. There, in his doorway stood Rena and Mion, smiling like a pair of Cheshire cats. He almost fell flat on his back as the two girls walked in, continuing to smile, and stare right into his soul.

"W-w-w-what are you doing here?"

"Now, is that any way to talk to your friends?" Mion asked, trying to keep her hands behind her back.

"We just wanted to make sure you were doing alright," Rena added.

"Then why didn't you let me know you were coming? For that matter, how did you get in? I locked all the doors and…"

"Do you really think that would stop us from getting in Kei-kun? Really now, don't be so stupid." Keiichi looked scared out of his mind, while he continued to back up, trying to get away from his 'friends.' He fell backwards, and landed with a thud. He tried to get back up, but Rena lunged at him, and held him securely down to the ground. Mion pulled out a syringe, popped the cap off, and gave it a test squeeze.

"What the hell is that?" he shouted.

"Isn't it obvious, Kei-kun? You remember the meal we made for you the other day? That was a subtle hint; now you get the real thing. Now stop being such a baby and take this like a man – it'll all be over soon." Keiichi was way past the point of panicking; it was time to start kicking into survival mode. Right now, he had very few options, and he wasn't keen on choosing to die. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the baseball bat, and without a second thought, he picked it up, and swung for all he was worth.

What happened next happened to quickly for anyone to really notice exactly what happened. In an instant, only visible as a blur of light, the syringe and baseball bat were snatched effortlessly out their respective owners hands. As if everyone wasn't bewildered enough, they now saw Dan panting on the other side of the room; he was barely supporting his own weight on the baseball bat, and white as a sheet. It wasn't a pretty sight to see, but the would-be murderers were still stuck in a daze, forgetting temporarily what they were doing.

"…Dan? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing? I should be asking you that. What the hell is going on?" The two girls looked at each other shamefully, while Keiichi was still completely dazed. "I don't understand why…" Dan quit speaking for a moment, and began coughing out of control.

"Are you alright?"

"…yeah COUGH, I'm fine. I'm just a bit winded, that's all." He turned and looked at Keiichi, and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I've been better, I'd have to say!"

"That's nice to know…" Dan said. "Can't say I blame him," he thought to himself.

"What's going on? I thought you were sick?" Mion asked.

"I AM sick, in more ways than one. I've gotta say, this is ridiculous! I can't even lie down and try to get better without having to worry about some SHIT like this happening! The whole reason I leave… COUGH COUGH COUGH …is to get away from things like this. Now here it is, happening all over again! Why do people think can solve problems with murder? It makes no sense to me, whatsoever."

"Dan, I…"

"No! You two need to stop and take a chill pill! I've ignored this as long as I can, but I can't anymore. This stops now, do you understand? I can't take anymore of this, and I know Keiichi's nerves are shot to pieces, to say the least! I thought all of us were friends, aren't we? I mean…" Dan stopped, and dropped to the floor, holding his chest tightly.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing to worry about, just…wait a minute – shh."

"What's…?"

"SHH!" Dan said, putting his finger to his lips. There was total silence for about ten seconds, then Dan's eyes widened.

"What's the matter? Will you just tell me what's going on?" Keiichi asked.

"Will you just SHUT UP? Everyone needs to get down slowly, I'll kill the lights, and most importantly, everyone needs to BE QUIET!"

"Why?" Rena asked.

"Just get down! We don't have much time before they notice that we've noticed them."

"Who noticed…?"

"Damn it! I told you to be quiet! We'll all be dead if you don't!" The three of them were slightly irritated, but they did as they were told. They waited a moment, and continued to listen, not hearing a sound. Dan got up slowly, moved to the door, and opened it slowly. "Everyone, get down to the kitchen, stay there for about two minutes, and head over at Rika and Satoko's place, alright?"

"But what about you?" Mion asked.

"I'll meet you there."

"You can't! You're barely able to stand right now – how are you going to make it all the way over there?"

"I made it here, didn't I? I'll be fine – you just make sure to call Oishi when you get there, and he'll take care of the rest. That ought to clear any suspicion he has of either of you two."

"But didn't you just…?"

"I told you that I don't really care about anyone's past – just as long as they move on away from it. You'll always be my friends, okay? Now stop worrying, and get going!" Mion smiled, and shook her head.

"You really are a strange guy, Dan. I hope that doesn't come back to hurt you in the end."

"I can deal with it, that's just part of life – we make mistakes, and move on. I've made it out of everything I've gotten into so far." Both of the girls gave Dan a big hug, and a peck the cheek.

"Don't die, okay?" Mion said.

"Hey, this isn't a good-bye, you know? I'll be just fine." Everyone nodded, in agreement, and took their positions. Dan smiled, and turned away. "I've got no idea how I'm going to get myself out of this one." Dan knew that he wasn't going to have an easy time saving everyone.

The situation was bleak – Dan barely had any strength left, using most of it from darting from Rika's to Keiichi's place so quickly, all on virtually an 'empty' tank. Dan checked his pockets for weapons, and frowned. All he had was two knives, one 9mm, and two spare clips.

"Damn, this is ridiculous. Well, if life were easy, it wouldn't be hard…" he laughed to himself, and went through another coughing fit. He looked at the door as if it were the grim reaper, waiting for him to walk with him to the other side. Dan took a deep breath, took both his knives out, and kicked the door wide open.

"Fire!" someone shouted. In seconds, the front entryway to the house was instantly shot to pieces; Dan was nowhere to be seen. A few men walked forward to examine the area.

"What the hell? Where is that little shit?" They shone their flashlights in the house, and saw no movement. As they continued to advance into the house, a pair of crimson red eyes appeared behind the men, followed by a quick flash of light. Two of the men dropped instantly, and the other turned around, who received a gun to his chin, and a single shot.

"Hey! Did you find…URK!" Another man fell to the ground, a large knife in his chest.

"Damn it! Don't let him get away!" Everyone shot as they caught a small glimpse here and there of Dan. Every few bursts of gunfire were followed by a single shot, which dropped one man. It kept up for a while, until reality caught up with Dan, and he stopped hard. He dropped to the ground, clutching his chest, coughing out of control, and coughing out blood.

"There he is! Take him out, now!" Dan rolled out of the way, but not before he received a few shots to his left arm. He cried out, and tried to get away into the forest. The whole squad followed him, leaving the house unguarded.

A few minutes later, there was total silence.

"…Is it safe to leave now?" Keiichi asked.

"I think so," Mion said, getting out from under the kitchen table. Everyone got out of their hiding places, and walked towards the open door. They walked slower as they got closer to the door, and saw the three dead men lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

"Oh my…what the hell happened?" Keiichi asked.

"It looks like Dan didn't have any problems taking these losers out," Mion said, stepping over the mess.

"How could a…Dan did…huh?" Keiichi blabbered.

"It was them or us, it I guess; Dan made sure it wasn't us. Now we've got to hold up our part of the deal, and get out of here," Mion said. They all started on their way, but stopped when they heard more gunshots. They turned to hear where they were coming from, and to get an idea of how far away they were from the action. There was silence for a moment, followed by a scream.

"Keiichi, you go on ahead, we'll make sure everything is okay," Mion said.

"What are you going to do? Dan told us to get out of here!" he insisted.

"Well, the plan's changed. You make sure YOU stay safe – it's what Dan wanted, and there's no need for you to get your hands dirty…" Mion said, looking away shamefully.

"Mion?" Keiichi asked, looking genuinely concerned. Mion smiled, and gave Keiichi a hug.

"That's the first time you've actually looked concerned for me – thank you." They let go of each other, Keiichi still a bit shocked, and they headed off in their separate directions. "We'll be fine – tell Rika and Satoko we'll be over shortly." Keiichi nodded, and went on his way.

Back in the forest, Dan was rolling around in pain as the head officer was kicking him in the gut. After he finished kicking Dan, then picked him up by his shirt collar.

"You little shit! I can't believe one kid took out my entire squadron! I'll make you pay for what you've done!" Dan croaked out a laugh.

"What I've done? If you hadn't decided to come after any of us in the first place, I wouldn't even care! I don't understand your kind at…UMPH!"

"Shut up!" the man roared. He threw him back down, and stomped on Dan's bad arm. Dan screamed out again, and the man laughed hysterically. "You all became involved the moment you all started to get too nosey!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me! It won't work!" Dan rolled his eyes, and turned the other way.

"If you don't want to believe me, you can just piss off – I don't care."

"What? Why you little…!" The man resumed beating Dan senseless, which didn't take too long since Dan was seconds away from passing out anyway. In a few minutes, Dan stopped moving or making any sounds at all. "Huh? You're done already? I'm not through with you yet – wake up, you piece of shit!" Dan still didn't respond, and his breathing was getting shallower by the minute. The man shrugged his shoulders, and frowned. "He really is done – what a disappointment this is turning out to be. A minute ago, he's all like some sort of superman, and now he's out cold. Guess I'll be doing him a favor by putting him out of his misery." He cocked his gun, and put it right to Dan's head. "This is goodbye, hehehe…"

Right before he pulled the trigger, he heard something off in the distance.

"Who's there?" he shouted, turning away from Dan. There was nothing there. He started to search the area, making sure the only person around him was Dan. There was a rustle in the bushes a ways off, which he immediately noticed, and walked over to them. He glared into the bushes, and saw something dark and fuzzy. "What the hell?" In about two seconds, he knew that he should have just left the noise alone, since he was covered with the most revolting scent he'd ever experienced in his life. Flailing around blindly, he tripped, and fell down flat on his back.

"You know, you shouldn't wander around all alone in the forest. You never know who you might run into…"

"What the…" the man shouted, scrambling back up to his feet. He saw Mion, giving him a devilish grin standing a few feet away from him.

"Don't worry, it'll all be over soon – you can count on it."

"What the hell are you talking…URK!" The man got the business end of Rena's billhook straight through his head. He fell over, and twitched for a moment before finally leaving this world. Satisfied that the man was dead, both Mion and Rena ran over to Dan, who was unconscious.

"Dan! Wake up!" both girls shouted.

"Is there a problem here?" an all too familiar voice called. Both girls froze, and turned to see a smiling Oishi. There were about twenty other officers with him, looking over the situation. There were dead people everywhere, and the only people left holding the bag were Mion, Rena, and Dan.

"Well, I, uh…We can explain – I think…" Rena stammered, very worried about what was going to happen.

"Don't worry about it; I have a good idea of what happened myself." Both girls prepared themselves for what they knew was coming. What they saw happen completely threw them off, however. The officers began cleaning up the area, and acted as if the two of them weren't even there. Oishi looked down at Dan, and frowned. He pulled out his cell phone, and called an ambulance. "It looks like he pushed himself too hard again."

"Huh?" Rena asked. "What do you mean?"

"It's a long story, but I think we've got a bit of time to talk about it while we get him to the hospital." The girls nodded their heads in agreement, glad that they hadn't been fingered for the mess that Dan made.

In a few minutes, the ambulance arrived, and they got Dan loaded in. The two girls got a ride in Oishi's car.

"So, what's the story on Dan?" Mion asked.

"Hmm…" Oishi said, thinking back a bit. "I don't know how much he's told you about his own life, but I know he doesn't mind people knowing about him."

"Did he do something…?"

"Yes and no," Oishi said. He got a strange look from both the girls. "It's slightly complicated, but you've got plenty of time.

"Dan was still in prison at the time, and was only about fifteen then. I came through the area where he was, as I was going to pay a visit to one of the other inmates there. On my way out, there was a power surge, and all of the inmates escaped from their cells. Many of the inmates that were in there were in there because of me, and were obviously angry with me. They backed me into a corner, intent on taking me out. There were too many of them for me to do anything about it, so I thought that I was a goner.

"From out of nowhere, Dan shows up, and takes them all on. It was shocking to see – not only did he stick up for me, when I was the one who put him in there, but he made quick work of them. I'm still not sure how or why he did that, but that wasn't the only time he's saved me."

"But why was he in prison in the first place? That, and the fact that you're Japanese – why were you in America?" Mion asked, really confused.

"The first part is the complicated part. To answer your questions, I'll explain why I was in America.

"I was on a long term business trip, mostly to learn new policies and procedures to implement when I came back. I wasn't planning to stay very long, but things changed, and I stayed over there.

"When I found Dan the night that I arrested him, I felt something was wrong about the whole situation. He certainly didn't look like the type that would do something like kill another person, but a lot of people are like that. We arrested him without a single thought that someone else was involved.

"It wasn't until the next year, when we found a murder in the same area, in the exact same style as the one Dan was accused of. We brought him in, and found out he was the perpetrator in both cases. Apparently, the person that was in the crime lab was working with the other guy, he only reported finding Dan's prints on the murder weapon.

"There wasn't anything we could do for Dan to make it up to him, other than clearing his record, and letting him go. By then, Dan had been disowned by his family, had nowhere to go, and was obviously angry about many things. He went off on his own for a while, and I didn't see him for about two to three months.

"On my way back to Japan, there was an incident at the airport. There was a hostage situation, and it wasn't looking good. It was some foreign official being held, and he had made some demands. I brought him what he had asked for, then he turned around and kept me hostage, demanding more. About five minutes later, a man walked up, and began conversing with the man. He handed him a briefcase, and as the man looked at it, he took the man down, literally THREW him across the room, and took out his accomplices. He tied them up, and let the police take care of the rest.

"Needless to say, I was completely shocked that he found me, and that he was on his way over to Japan at the exact same time I was. It was like he was following me, but not in a bad way."

The girls sat there wondering what to say for quite some time. After about five minutes of silence, they arrived at the hospital and the ER staff came out, and brought Dan right in for treatment. The two girls ran in, and followed after Dan as far as they were allowed to, then they were told they had to wait outside. They walked back to where they had to wait, and saw Oishi standing there, waiting for them.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Rena asked

"He should be, but I'm not completely sure. We'll just have to wait and see." The girls nodded, took a seat, and waited.

Dan came to the next day, terribly sore, but he was conscious nonetheless. His vision took a minute to adjust, but when he was able to focus, he saw all of his classmates in the room with him.

"Huh?" he croaked.

"Are you alright?" the teacher asked. The rest of the students looked on, waiting for a reply. Dan smiled weakly, and answered,

"I've been better, but I've also been worse! Guess I can't complain, since I'm still here!" Everyone laughed, and started chatting with him. Rena, Mion, Rika, Satoko, and Keiichi were there as well. They were patiently waiting in the hall, until the others had all gone.

In about twenty minutes, they had their chance, and all went in to see him.

"Dan!" came the collective shout. Dan nearly fell out of his bed from the shock, but managed to stay put somehow.

"We were so worried about you when you didn't come home last night!" Satoko said, almost crying. "When Keiichi got to the house, and told us what was going on, we didn't want to believe it." Rika walked up to him, and punched him in the arm.

"Whoa! What was that for?" Dan asked.

"That's for sneaking out, and not letting us know where you were going." Dan felt quite sheepish, but he knew that that was the only way he could have stopped what was going to happen the previous night.

"I…uh…oh…" He started stumbling. She shocked him again when she gave him a big hug.

"That's for being such a good friend to all of us." Dan smiled warmly, and looked at the rest of his friends.

"I don't know where you get all that energy to keep going, but I'm glad that you can and did for us," Mion said, as she gave him a hug as well. "I'm glad we have you as a friend. I don't know what we'd do without you."

"I'm glad that I could help," Dan said, lying back down. "I must say that things got a bit crazy, but hey – what are friends for?" Keiichi walked up to Dan, and put his hand out. Dan stared at it for a moment, and then looked back at Keiichi. Dan grabbed his hand, and pulled him down for a hug, which startled Keiichi. "Glad to see you're okay, dude."

"Thanks to you; I owe you one, at least!"

"No worries, dude. I do what I can, so don't sweat it," Dan said.

"We better let you rest up a bit, you look like you could use a bit more," Rena said. Dan laughed.

"I suppose you're right." They all said their goodbyes, and left Dan to himself. Dan waited until they had all gone, then a frown spread across his face. "Unfortunately, I feel like this is far from over." Dan looked outside his window, and stared off into the distance. The sun was setting, making a beautiful sunset off in the distance. "It's always darkest, before the dawn, I suppose." In a few minutes, Dan drifted off to sleep.

End of Chapter 1

Author's Note

I originally started this before I finished watching the whole series, and I thought it was the trippiest anime I had ever seen. I hated seeing all the "game-over" endings, so I thought I'd add my own character, and have him bail them out. I'll admit that when I started this, my creativity level was too damn low, so the vast majority was a rehash of the first chapter of the show. For that, I apologize.

I have revised this severely since I originally posted this story last year, having read through it, and finding many glaring errors. I also have my own brand of humor, which apparently people didn't quite pick up on, so hence the girls ogling over Dan like a bunch of drunken sailors.

I've been working on the next chapter for quite a while, trying to make it flow better.

I'd like some feedback, honest and specific, so I can make the next chapter live up to people's expectations.

J-Bob


	2. Chapter 2

Everything Ends

By J-Bob The Brave

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The only person I own in this story is Dan. Everything else belongs to the original writers of this anime, 07th Expansion. With that said, please enjoy the story.

Dan awoke to find himself sitting in a small, white room. There were no doors, no windows, no way in or out. Despite that fact, the room was a nearly blinding white color, which made no sense. It was only him, and the chair on which he sat, in the room. His muscles ached, and his eyes were sore, as if he forced himself to remain awake for a number of days. Whatever the reason for his being there, he knew that something was not right.

"Where the hell am I?"

There was no answer.

"Is anybody there?"

Nothing.

"Kei? Mion? Rena?" The echo of his own voice was the only answer he received. He got up, and began walking around the room, looking for something – anything, really – that could give him a clue as to where he was. His searching, however, was completely in vain – it was as if he was in a perfect cube, with no seams, cracks, or imperfections of any kind. The longer he looked, the more frantic he became. He started pounding on the walls, running at full speed to break one down, yelling, screaming, swearing, whatever. He picked up his chair, and threw it at the wall, too. All his efforts ended with the same result – nothing. The chair did not appear damaged, even though he knew that it should have broke. After what seemed like hours of trying, he finally curled up in a ball in a corner, and tried to think things through.

"Okay, looking at this realistically, if I got in here, then there's got to be a way out. The fact that I am here proves that. If there are no openings or closings, how could I get here in the first place?" Dan liked the sound of that, but that did not change the fact that he was still in the room. "Alright, if that's true, and there still doesn't appear to be a way out of here, maybe this is a dream? That's it – it has to be a dream! I just need to wake up!" Dan pinched himself, but it did not seem to work – it only gave him a smart. "Damn, I guess that only really works in movies. That sucks." He tried to think of some other explanation for why he was there, and how he could get out. He started rummaging through his pockets, and found a pen. Looking at it for a moment, and then at the walls, he got a strange idea. "Might as well try, eh?" He quickly drew what looked like a door, and took a moment to examine it, just to make sure he did not mess up. Suddenly, the 'door' began to open, slowly. "Well, I'll be damned, it worked."

Dan poked his head out the door slowly, and looked around. There was nothing but darkness for as far as he could see. There were a few streaks of light here and there, but not enough to make one feel welcome. Dan did not feel too worried by it, but, at the same time, he was not very comfortable with it, either.

"Is anyone there?"

"…"

"Ah! I heard something!" he laughed. "Who's there?" This time, he could not hear anything. "I know you're there – pretending that you can't hear me won't change anything. I'm not gonna hurt ya, ya know?" The person still did not answer. "Fine, be that way." Dan stepped out of the room, and into the open space. Even though there was not a floor, it was as if there was one, so Dan did not even notice. He began looking in every direction, searching for the source of the sound.

"…"

"There you," Dan started, but suddenly stopped, seeing that no one was there. "…are?" He shook his head, and looked up in frustration. "Dang, I hate hide and seek."

"You shouldn't be here."

"Who is that?" Dan shouted. Turning again, he now saw a girl standing directly in front of him. She had her back to him, so he could not get a good look at her face. She was dressed in a plain white kimono, tied with a bright red sash. She was not very tall, and she had purple hair, much like someone he already knew. "Rika? Is that you?" He reached out, and touched her shoulder. She shivered slightly, apparently shocked by Dan's actions; then she simply disappeared. "What the…? This is totally strange…"

"You must leave here at once! Go back to where you came from!"

"That's pretty rude! I was trying to find my way out – I don't even know how I got here! Explain to me…WHAT'S GOING ON!" He felt a small tugging on his pant leg, and quickly turned to face the girl again. "Rika, what are you…? Wait a moment; you're not Rika. Who are you?"

"Huh?" The girl said, completely surprised. "You're not supposed to be able to see me!" the girl cried. The comment hit Dan so unexpectedly, that he immediately burst into laughter.

"Are you serious?"

"It's not funny!" the girl protested.

"I'm sorry," Dan said as he tried to control himself. "I didn't mean to laugh, but your comment doesn't make any sense. I can definitely see you; besides, I try not to make a habit of arguing with myself. The fact that I'm talking to you, and you're responding should be proof enough that I know you're here." The girl did not seem to like to hear that, but she seemed to accept it.

"Well, it's just that no one else has ever been able to see me, other than…" she stopped herself, and looked aghast.

"What was that?"

"It's nothing! Really, it's nothing!" she stammered, and tried to get away again.

"Oh, no you don't; you're not going anywhere!" The girl turned around, and gave Dan the most pitiful, sad, puppy-dog eyed look he had seen in a long time. He stood there for a moment, obviously stunned. "Now cut that out! I – I need to talk to you, 'cause I've got some questions that I need some answers to."

"I can't help you!" she insisted. "Now please let me go!"

"Now hold up a second," Dan said. "Why can't you help me? Did your parents tell you not to talk to strangers? I've got nothing against you – hell; I don't even know who you are!"

"I, uh, well…"

"I don't know why you're in such a hurry, maybe I can help you out. Whaddaya say?"

"That's really kind of you to offer, but I don't think that you can help me. I've been doing this for a long time, and I think I have it under control." Dan looked a tad bit shocked, and let go of the girl.

"A long time, you say? You can't be much older than Rika or Satoko, judging by your appearance. "

"Honestly, thank you, but I really must be going. I've wasted too much time as it is." Now Dan was getting angry, but he tried to keep it hidden.

"Won't you at least tell me how to get out of here? I've got no idea how I got here in the first place!"

"Just lie down, and wake up."

"Lie down and wake up?" Dan said, thoroughly confused. "That makes no sense at all. There is no way it could be that flipping easy. This feels way too real to be a dream…" The girl simply stood there and smiled at him. "Damn," he thought, "why do all the girls I meat have to be so difficult?"

"Don't worry – this will all go away once you do what I've said."

"Shoot, you really won't help me, will you?" Dan groaned. The girl frowned, and vanished from sight once again. "I'll just have to find my own way out of here, I suppose."

The fact that Dan had now lost his chance of getting some sort of a guide through the place he found himself did not help his self esteem at all. It was literally an open field that looked like something out of Star Trek and things had gone horribly wrong; there was no 'Scotty' to come and beam him out of there, either. The only thing he had going for him was his stubbornness, and absolute refusal to admit defeat.

"I guess I've got nothing better to do," Dan said as he shrugged his shoulders. He began searching around once again, looking for any sort of abnormality, aside from the obvious. That was going to rather difficult, though; everything looked the same – there were no landmarks or unique characteristics, which he could use to get a bearing on his location. The further he went, the more frustrated he became. A star cluster here, a galaxy there, and a few other things he could not identify. Dan began thinking why this was not bothering him as much as he thought it should. Anyone else would have curled up in a ball, and started whispering to themselves, "It's all a bad dream, it's all a bad dream," repeatedly. Fortunately, for Dan, he was as dense as a post; things like this had a hard time settling in.

After what seemed like hours of searching, he lied down, and tried to gather his thoughts once again.

"Charging in without any sort of a plan really has its downsides," he groaned to himself. "Why the hell am I even here anyway? The last thing I knew I was drifting off to sleep in that hospital bed." Dan thought for a moment, and went white as a sheet. "Holy shit, did I die? OMG! I went to hell!" Dan went on ranting for about thirty seconds about what he possibly could have done to deserve that kind of punishment. It was a good thing he was alone during his little rant; someone would have sedated him, and put him in a padded room for twenty years.

All of a sudden, a little voice in the back of his mind went off, screaming, "Hey DUMBASS! You are not dead! Dead people don't wear themselves out!"

"Oh yeah, that's right."

"Jeez, get a hold of yourself."

"Yeah, thanks for that."

"No problem. Now stop talking to yourself – people will think you're nuts."

"People already think that."

"Now you're arguing with yourself. Quit it, or you'll give yourself an aneurysm."

"Damn. You're right."

"Of course I am; I'm you! Now shut up and try to find a way out of this place!"

Dan got up, and stared off for just a moment. "Oh yeah, I've got my pen. Let's try that again, and see what happens." He carefully drew another door, and watched in amazement as it opened. "Hey, that looks familiar!" Dan quickly walked through the opening, and closed it. "Damn this thing is handy, better not lose it."

He found himself at the entrance of the Furude shrine; it looked like no one was there. The sky was somewhat cloudy, and there was a strange feeling in the air. Dan simply brushed it off, seeing that everything that had happened since he woke up earlier had been anything but normal. He began the long hike up the stairs. "You know, I've always wondered about these shrines. It always seems that they put them at the top of a mountain. Is that supposed to be symbolic, or are these the only types of places people will let them build these things. You think they could invest in something like an escalator. Then again, I'm not sure how people would like that. Maybe I should just quit whining about something so trivial."

Dan reached the top of the stairs about five minutes later, and headed right over to the shrine. He noticed that there were a great number of crows fluttering around the shrine entrance, more so than usual. "Sheesh, I hate crows. They're one step away from vultures, the only difference is…" Dan felt his heart drop into his stomach, and land like a five-ton weight on a house of cards. His legs gave way, and he collapsed to his knees, staring blankly at the horrific scene only ten feet in front of him. There lay his friend, Rika, eyes wide open and motionless. Her internal organs had been ripped out, and strewn about haphazardly. Blood, mostly dried and caked on the cement, was everywhere; the crows, picking away slowly at her corpse, were spreading it around like the devil's poor attempt at finger painting his twisted masterpiece. Any, and all thoughts Dan had of re-establishing some sense of sanity, were instantly dashed to pieces. He remained that way for what felt like an eternity, mind blank. He had felt almost the same way as when he had found his friend back in Florida, gunned down by his supposed 'friends.' He had been able to come up with a semi-feasible reason in his mind as for why that had happened, as they had all gotten together with the wrong crowd. This was a whole other ball of wax, and there was absolutely no reason he could see for this type of an end to come to such a young girl.

"This isn't right…this isn't fucking right…" Dan mumbled to himself. "This has got to be a dream, one wrong, sick, twisted, fuck-ass dream." He picked himself back up, and started trudging toward Rika. As he approached, the crows began cawing at him, one at a time, until they all had joined into a cacophonous symphony. None of them really moved, except just a few hops out of the way, so Dan did not step on them. They grew louder, and louder with every step he took, until he felt as if his head would explode with rage. As soon as a few of the crows began pecking at him, he snapped, and began flailing his arms randomly, and screaming at the top of his lungs. Instantly, the crows all flew up, and began swarming around him like flies around fresh vomit. Seconds later, they were all gone, leaving behind a mess of feathers and specks of flesh they had dropped while escaping Dan's rage. After giving himself time to recompose himself, he stooped down, and looked at her. Slowly, he stroked the side of her face, and waited in vain for any type of a reaction. Seeing that it had no effect on her, the full gravity of the situation was upon him; he embraced her lifeless body, and gushed out tears of anguish. He remained that way until he could no longer cry, move, or think; eventually, he fell asleep from exhaustion.

The first thing Dan saw when he opened his eyes was the nearly blinding rays of the sun. He squinted, and slowly rose to his feet. Everything was still rather blurry, so he was not moving very quickly. It did not take him long to realize that something was different; he was not outside anymore, that was certain.

"Where am I now?" he groaned. "It feels like I just got ran over by a Mac truck about twenty times. Damn, I…" he stopped, and gasped as he remembered where he was before he had fallen asleep, "Rika!" Dan slapped himself in the face, and forced himself to wake up entirely. As he gained his focus, he realized he was back in Keiichi's house. "How'd I get here? I wasn't even close to Kei's house, last I remember…"

"Good morning, Dan!" a familiar voice called. Dan quickly turned, and faced the door.

"Whozit?" Dan asked. His angry face faded, as he met the confused one on Keiichi's father.

"I was just coming up to see how you were doing, that's all." Dan frankly apologized for his rude comment, and Mr. Maebara accepted. "Keiichi told me you had a pretty rough night, and so he decided to let you sleep in."

"Do you know what happened last night?" Dan asked, hoping to catch up on any details he may have missed. Mr. Maebara frowned, and shook his head.

"I can't say that I do know – Keiichi just said you were balling in your sleep, and thought it would be best to leave you be."

"Was there anything before that?"

"I don't know. Why are you so inquisitive so early in the morning? I would think the first thing on your mind would have been breakfast, or should I say lunch. It is well into the afternoon, you know?" Dan looked even more confused and frustrated than before now, and it showed quite clearly on his face.

"What the hell?" Dan mumbled to himself.

"Are you sure that you're okay? Maybe you should head on down to the clinic, just to be safe."

"Maybe," Dan said, trying to put the pieces together in his mind, as he saw them.

"It surely wouldn't hurt, would it?"

"…I think I might just do that. D'ya mind if I take Keiichi's bike down there?"

"You sure you don't want a lift? I was going to head down that way in a few minutes. That might be…"

"No, that's okay. I'd like to stop by a couple places before I go to the clinic. Thank you very much for the offer, though."

"Alright," Mr. Maebara said, "Just don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

"No more than necessary," Dan said. Mr. Maebara left the room; Dan followed shortly thereafter. He did not bother getting anything to eat on his way out, as there were many questions on his mind.

If Dan had not been so preoccupied with everything, he would have noticed it was a beautiful day. The birds were singing, and you could hear the trickling streams in the background; it was as if the elements were trying to tell him that everything was okay. Of course, that was the furthest thought from his mind; he was already down to the Furude shrine, and halfway up the stairs before he took time to notice that the sun was out and shining. He rushed up to the spot where he had last seen Rika, and stopped dead in his tracks.

"She's not here? What the hell?"

"Is there something I can help you with, young man?" came an older sounding voice. Dan nearly leapt out of his skin as he quickly turned around, and saw that it was only the village elder.

"Holy Sh… shnykies! Can you NOT do that?"

"I'm sorry; didn't mean to startle you."

"That's fine," Dan said. He took a moment to recompose himself, and took a deep breath. "I'm just as stressed as I'll get out, and I'm not sure what's going on around here for the past couple of days."

"Oh?" the elder asked, "What seems to be the problem?" Dan simply stood there, looking as if he was trying to solve the answer to the universe. "Young man, are you okay?"

"Where would they…hmm?"

"Are you listening to me?"

"I guess that would make sense; there's only two places they'd bring her, and that one's closer. Sorry sir, I've gotta get somewhere quick. Thanks for your help." Dan turned, bolted back on down the stairs, and was off to his next stop – the clinic.

"…What was that all about? Maybe I shouldn't have had that Sake last night."

Dan was rushing down the road so fast, that he was actually passing cars going 55 k/h. He kept on gaining speed as he went, while the cars began pulling over, and staring in total amazement that someone could go that fast on a bicycle. It was really quite amusing to see the look on the police officer's face as Dan raced by. The officer looked at his radar gun, turned on his lights, and began tailing after whatever it was that was going so fast. When he saw it was just Dan on his bike, he turned the lights off, and slowly drove back to where he had come from. The officer just sat there, and shook his head, knowing he would probably never hear the end of it, if he had pulled a cyclist over for speeding. Again, Dan failed to notice anything that those around him were doing.

He arrived at the clinic in a huff, and all but kicked the door in. The sound of the doors flying open echoed throughout the entire building, followed by the sound of Dan's heavy breathing. Seconds later, a desk attendant came scurrying from down the hall, to see who, or what, was causing all that ruckus. When she saw Dan standing in the doorway, dripping wet as though he had just come in from a torrential rainstorm, and looking as if he were more of a demon than a man, she shrieked.

"What in the world is going on out here?"

"Dr. Irie…where's Dr. Irie?

"He's in with another patient at the moment, sir. Is there something I can help you with?" Dan stood there a moment, and tried to think of an intelligent way to pose his question, not wanting to cause any more of a commotion than he already had. Of course, with only a few hours of sleep, and drained mental capabilities due to his excessive rush to get down to the clinic – things were not looking to good.

"Were there any…accidents reported…yesterday?"

"Accidents? What kind of an accident?"

"You know…homicides? People dying, that sort of thing, ya' know?" The attendant looked mortified, and stood there for a good minute before saying anything.

"I most certainly did not! Why would you ask such a thing?"

"Oh, I don't know…maybe because I SAW ONE YESTERDAY AND I'M A BIT CONCERNED! THAT'S WHY! Now, are you going to get the doctor or not?"

"I WILL IF YOU CALM DOWN!" the attendant roared back.

"I WOULD BE IF IT WASN'T IMPORTANT!"

"YOU NEED TO SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, AND WAIT! JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE!"

"YOU BEST WATCH YOURSELF, OR I'LL…"

"YOU'LL WHAT?"

"Excuse me, what's all this…" someone started.

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" both Dan and the attendant roared. They were just about to go another round when they realized at whom they yelling. The attendant quickly disappeared, leaving Dan on his own. "Damned bitch…" he grumbled under his breath. He turned to face Dr. Irie, and stopped dead in his tracks; whatever pleasant demeanor the doctor once had was gone, and he looked even scarier than Dan did a few moments ago. Dan had not seen the doctor, let alone anyone else, look quite like that before. Hurriedly, Dan backed up about five paces, and apologized for shouting, and telling Dr. Irie to shut up. That seemed to calm him down somewhat, but he was obviously still peeved about all the commotion Dan had caused.

"Something I can help you with Dan?" he asked flatly.

"Yeah, there is actually. I'd like to discuss it with you privately, though."

"I'm afraid that you'll just have to wait a bit longer. I was just about done when you started yelling. Five minutes won't put you out, will it?"

"No sir, I can wait…"

"Good. I don't want to hear another word out of you until I'm done, understood?" Dan simply nodded, and took a seat. Dr. Irie left Dan to himself, and just before entering, he turned and looked him square in the eyes for five seconds, and then disappeared into his office. Dan sat there and groaned quietly, trying to calm himself down, but finding it near impossible to do so.

"Sit here and wait?" Dan thought to himself. "You've gotta be kidding me! That's like telling a fat kid he can't have any cake, right after you practically plop it in his lap!" He continued to brood for a while, until he heard someone chuckling behind the front counter. He snapped and glared at the attendant in such a way that Medusa would have turned to stone. As soon as she disappeared from sight, Dan smirked, and instantly fell asleep again. He remained that way, until Dr. Irie came and woke him up. Dan dragged himself to Irie's office, and collapsed in a chair.

"Now, what seems to be the trouble Dan?" Giant tears welled up in Dan's eyes, and it was all he could do to keep from breaking down right then and there.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this, but…but…"

"Dan, are you alright?"

"No, not really; it's just that…" Dan was interrupted by a knock at the door, which broke both his and Dr. Irie's concentration. Irie asked if he could pause for a moment, and Dan reluctantly agreed; he got up and answered the door.

"Who is…oh, it's you Satoko. What can I do for you?" Dan looked to see his friend, and he suddenly went bug-eyed as he saw who followed her in.

"Just forgot to grab my…" Satoko stopped, and looked at Dan, slack-jawed, and wet as a drowned rat. At that point, he might as well have been one, as he felt any semblance of mental power draining from his body. He tried to get up, but he did not get too far; within five seconds, he was on the floor, sprawled out as if someone shot him with a twelve-gauge shotgun. Everyone in the room just stood there and stared at him, out cold.

"Dan!" Dr. Irie shouted, trying to help him back up, though he tried in vain. Satoko stood there, wondering if she should take offense at what just happened; either that, or to actually be concerned about her friend. The last thing Dan muttered before he was completely gone, was,

"Rika?"

Dan felt his eyes slowly opening, due to the somewhat dim rays from the florescent light bulbs above him. There were some odd colored shapes moving about either side of him, which gave him a bit of a start; he realized it was his friends, and he couldn't see them clearly since his eyes were still adjusting.

"Looks like he's finally coming around," somebody said.

"Good grief, 'bout time he woke up! I thought we were going to be here forever."

"…It's nice to see you, too Kei," Dan said. Keiichi simply laughed, and so did Mion and Rena. "How long was I out for?"

"I'd say it was about four hours," Dr. Irie said.

"Wow, you must have hit your head pretty hard on the ground, huh?" Mion asked. "You're probably lucky it wasn't a concussion."

"I was beginning to wonder if that was the case, even though I didn't see anything on the X-ray. I'm still wondering why he passed out in the first place. The only thing I can think that caused it was that he was just completely exhausted physically."

"I'm just glad you're alright," Rena said. Dan smiled faintly, and sat up.

"Me too, I…wait a second," Dan said as he quickly scanned the room, "Where are Rika and Satoko? They were here earlier, weren't they?"

"They said they had to go home, and do some shopping. Why do you ask?" Dan had to think of a response quickly, so he just said the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh, I was just curious, that's all."

"What is it? Doesn't it matter that we came to see how you were doing?" Mion asked, giving him a stern and somewhat sad look. Dan frantically started waving his hands, and apologized to them.

"No! Nn-nnn-nnn-no! That's not it at all! I…uh…ur…doh!" Mion started laughing, and slugged him in the arm playfully.

"I'm just kidding! There's no need to get all worked up!"

"I see," Dan said, and just laughed it off.

"So what were you in such a hurry to get over here for in the first place?" Dr. Irie asked. "You were making a pretty big fuss over something, but you never told me what it was you wanted to tell me."

"Oh, that…" Dan said, scratching his head. He thought for a while, going through what would be the best possible response. He knew if he told them that he thought Rika was dead, because he saw her on the shrine steps only hours before, that things would get terribly uncomfortable. He frowned, and tried to come up with something plausible, and it was obvious he was having a tough time with it.

"If you don't want to talk about it right now, that's fine. I just thought I'd ask."

"No, it's alright. It just seems that I had one hell of a nightmare, and I'd like to leave it at that."

"I'd say it was pretty bad, you were about ready to kill the desk attendant, from what I heard of that 'conversation' you had with her earlier."

"It seems like he's doing just fine now, so I'm sure it isn't a big deal anymore," Rena said. "Besides, it's getting late; I'm sure we'd all like to go home now."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Mion said. Everyone else soon agreed, and got their things together. Dan was still obviously concerned, but he was able to keep it hidden from his facial expressions. The four of them left together, and chatted for a while about the day. Rena and Mion laughed about how they had planned to dress Keiichi up in a neko-swimsuit outfit for the punishment game that day, and how he had narrowly avoided it, only because they had received a call from Satoko about Dan. They discussed how they would definitely have to make up for it tomorrow by thinking of something even more ridiculous for him to wear. Keiichi retorted, and said that would only happen if he lost; he said that he was feeling particularly lucky now, and would be paying them back for all the trouble they had given him. The girls laughed it off, obviously not taking him seriously, mainly because every time he had threatened to get them back, it had always backfired in his face. Dan was just glad to see them getting along, especially after going through what happened the other day.

"Come to think of it," he thought, "I thought that I wasn't really in much of a condition to walk around quite yet." He rolled up his sleeves to take a better look at his arms, and gasped. The others stopped, and looked at him for a moment. They asked him what was the matter, and he started stammering, "Oh, it's nothing; I must have gotten a bit more confused than I thought with that dream I had…" Although they did not look terribly convinced that it was 'nothing,' they seemed to accept it for the time being, and kept right on walking. Dan silently sighed, and was glad he had escaped having to explain himself.

They soon reached the mill where they usually met in the morning, and said their good-bye's to each other. The girls went on their way, and Dan started towards Rika and Satoko's house.

"Where are you going?" Keiichi asked, giving Dan a puzzled look. Dan stopped, and gave Keiichi an equally confused look.

"I'm heading over to Rika & Satoko's place."

"Are you just planning to visit them?" Dan's facial expression went blank; he did not know whether to laugh, or to be pissed off. Somehow, he managed to restrain himself, and just took a deep breath. "What's wrong?"

"I'm going to ask you a serious question, and I want a completely honest answer; is that all right with you?"

"Sure, I suppose. What brought this on?"

"Just answer my question. If it sounds like I'm off my rocker, can you not mention this to anybody?" Keiichi nodded, getting a bit worried with how his friend was acting. "I'm not kidding!"

"Alright, just chill out!"

"I'm sorry, but this has really been bugging me since I got up this morning, and I need to know." Dan took another deep breath, and let it out nice and slow. "What happened yesterday? Do you remember anything, how do I put it, unusual?"

"Did anything unusual happen?" Keiichi stood there and pondered for a while, seemingly having a hard time with it. "…No, nothing comes to mind, really. I suppose watching you drink two pots of coffee before going to bed, and then actually falling asleep within five minutes of doing it, I'd say that's really unusual." Dan's expression was getting rather bleak. "What, don't you remember that?"

"I was drinking…coffee?" Dan thought to himself. "The hell I was! That doesn't sound like a bad idea though. …Wait a cotton-picking' minute! I was in the hospital in the next town, all full of holes, and bandaged up like a mummy! How long was I asleep, anyway? What the hell's going on here? Why I oughta…"

"Are you okay? You look like you're ready to snap like a twig!" Keiichi asked, lightly tapping his friend on the shoulder. Dan twitched as soon as Keiichi touched him, coming out of his self-monologue.

"You know, I'm not too sure. I think...well, I'm not too sure of that, either!" Dan could feel an awful lot of blood rushing to his head, and he felt like he wanted to pass out again. With a last sense of resolve, he mustered up enough energy to ask one more question. "Tell me, what day is it?"

"It's the tenth, I believe."

"It's the tenth of what month?" Dan asked.

"June."

For about five minutes, there was utter silence. It was as if all the gears in Dan's head all stopped turning, as if someone just threw a monkey wrench into his head. The only sound they could hear was the chirping of a bird, way off in the distance; the occasional cicada also played into evening air, humming its mournful sounding cry. Keiichi found it uncomfortable after the first thirty seconds, but he didn't feel it would be good to be the first one to break that awkward silence.

"It's June, you say…"

"Yep, it sure is. It's been June for the past few days, as far as I know."

"Well, I can think of two things to say to that: either you're totally shitting me, which I doubt is the case, or I have officially lost my mind."

"Why would I try to trick you about what day it was?" Keiichi asked.

"I don't know; why do the girls like to dress you up like a maid?" Dan and Keiichi sat there and thought about that for a moment; the more they thought about it, the less they really wanted to know.

"I think I see your point, but still."

"Yeah, it is strange, but putting everything back together in my head is even stranger right now."

"Dan..."

"I'm sorry for dropping this on you so suddenly," Dan said, interrupting Keiichi. "Just forget about it, alright? I just want to go home, and relax properly."

"Relax properly? How do you do that?"

"I'm just going to strum out some tunes on my guitar, and call it a day. No thinking, and no reasoning things out, just going with it, ya' know?"

"Sort of," Keiichi said, forcing a smile. "Just do what you think is best, and I'm sure things will be fine in the morning." Dan nodded, and they headed back home.

Dan was sitting in the living room, still holding his guitar, in a mentally transient state. He knew that he was awake, but he didn't really feel like moving all that much. For some reason, he had stayed up all night long, and felt just fine. Now that the sun came up, and hit him square in the eyes, it was as if it had sucked all his remaining energy away, and left him as an empty shell.

"Damn," he thought, "Why am I so tired? I was asleep for more than half the day. …Did I just oversleep?" He shook his head, and groaned. "I told myself I didn't want to think about what was going on, but that's the only thing I could think of." He slowly turned, and saw Keiichi standing on the stairs, looking at him with a horrified expression. His expression got even worse when Dan saw him, which pissed Dan off all the more. "What's wrong with you? You're looking at me like I'm the Grim Reaper, or something!"

"It's just…it's just that…"

"What?" Dan asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"You woke up before me!" A cold wind suddenly blew through the house, and it pierced Keiichi to the core; there was actually frost forming on the windows. Whether Keiichi was truly scared before didn't even cross Dan's mind, because he knew he was scared now.

"Do you even think before you speak?"

"H—e—eh-eh-hey! Relax Dan, it was just…"

"I'll kill your whole family!" Dan roared, as he jumped up and started chasing him around, swinging his guitar like El Ka-bong.

"Hey! What gives? I said I was just joking!" Keiichi screamed. Dan slowed down, and eventually came to a stop, which also gave Keiichi a chance to catch his breath. They stood there for a while, just panting, and leaning against the wall. Neither one said a word for a good ten minutes; neither of them made any eye contact with the other. They both felt foolish, and they both knew what they had said was wrong; regardless of that fact they did not want to admit it.

After he had had enough of the silence, Dan decided to break the ice first.

"…Sorry, for what I said. I shouldn't have reacted like that." Keiichi looked at Dan for a moment, and could see that he was being serious now. He let out a heavy sigh, and shook his head.

"Yeah, you're right; you shouldn't have said that." Dan simply nodded in agreement.

"Although I figured I was going to get relaxed, and put this out of my head, I couldn't seem to get it out of my head at all last night. I think I'm even more wound up than I was yesterday."

"Damn Dan, are you really that concerned about this? I thought you told yourself it was just a dream."

"It's just that it seemed so real; that's what's upsetting me the most. I can't figure it out – it makes absolutely no sense," Dan ranted.

"Do you need to take another day off from school? It might help. That or it might be a good idea to talk to a doctor…"

"I don't want to talk to a shrink about this! They'd lock me up and throw away the key!"

"I'm just saying it might be something to consider. Besides, I think that is a tad overboard; we all know you're a bit crazy…in a good way, don't get me wrong! It is fun to have you around, and I am sure we don't want to lose you to a bit of paranoia. You just do what you think is best, and I'm sure things will turn out just fine." Dan stood there with a vacant expression on his face for a bit, simply blinking and breathing.

"Who are you, really?" Both of them started laughing, which made both of them feel much better. "Sometimes, you know just the right thing to say; thanks a lot."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Keiichi asked, giving Dan a warm smile and a pat on the shoulder.

"You're right."

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I think I'd better go to school. Just ignoring what's going on isn't going to help me; I've got to face the music sooner or later."

"Are you sure about that?" Keiichi asked.

"That doesn't really matter; I've just got to man up. Oh, one other thing," Dan said.

"What is it?"

"Don't talk about this with the others, really. It's enough that I told you about it, which I really appreciate you hearing me out; I just don't want to worry the others with this, ya' know?"

"That's fine with me. I do have one thing to say, though – if you feel like you're going to have another nervous breakdown, it's straight to the clinic with you. Understand?"

"Sure, sure," Dan said, nodding in agreement with the idea. "Like I have a real choice in the matter," he thought to himself. Keiichi seemed to accept that, and the two of them finished getting ready for school.

The two of them set off as normal, and caught up with Mion and Rena at the usual spot. They caught up on what little they had done that night, excluding Dan and Keiichi's argument. The longer they spoke, the more confused Dan became. It really was as if none of what he had sworn had 'happened,' actually ever had. No one mentioned anything about it, or seemed affected at all. Dan kept right up with the conversation, but on the inside, he was wondering if had ever done, intentionally or unintentionally, LSD in his life; it may not have completely explained everything, or made much sense, but it would have made it easier to take.

"How could," he thought, "Mion and Rena gone from one day wanting to kill Keiichi, just because of something, hell, I don't even know why exactly they did want to… Now, it's all sunshine and daisies?" Dan mentally kicked himself in the butt, and tried to quit thinking about it. "No, I think the best thing to do right now is to just observed what happens, and go with it. The moment something suspicious happens, then I'll act; until then, I'll just 'play along' with everyone."

Dan's concentration on trying to think, and maintain a conversation at the same time, it disrupted his awareness of his surroundings. He walked right into the door frame at a quick speed. He quickly recovered, and kept on going as if nothing had happened.

"Are you alright Dan?" Mion asked, "It looks like you hit your head really hard back there."

"Oh, that? It's nothing, didn't even feel a thing!" It was obvious that she didn't buy that, but she acted like she did, just to humor him.

"If you say so, I guess." They kept on walking, Dan being the first one to enter the classroom. He had hardly even opened the door when a bucket of water came crashing down on his head, followed by tripping over a nearly invisible wire, which sent him flying into a desk, with a bulls-eye crudely drawn on the center of it. Suffice it to say, Dan was out cold.

"All right, I finally…" Satoko laughed, but stopped when she saw Keiichi in the doorway, staring blankly in amazement at Dan. "Wait a minute, that wasn't supposed to happen!"

"What? Did the trap set itself up?" Keiichi asked, shocked and amazed.

"No, it was for you! Why'd you let Dan come in first? I wanted to give him a good laugh to start off the day." Keiichi began ranting to himself, and shaking his first in a rage.

"Is that so?"

"Uh oh," Satoko gulped. Keiichi quickly grabbed her, and flicked her in the forehead.

"That ought to teach you to respect your elders!" Satoko began whimpering, while Keiichi laughed over his simple victory. He felt a slight tugging on his pant leg, which stopped him from gloating.

"I really don't think you should have done that," Rika said.

"Why is that?"

"Hauu?" Satoko looked up at Rena with her sad, puppy-dog eyes. Keiichi's expression changed from, "Damn, I'm good," to "Damn, I'm an idiot!" With a fist to his face, and a flash of red, white and blue, Keiichi was on the floor, and Rena was halfway out the door, with Satoko in tow. "I gonna take you home!"

"No Rena, you have to stay here for school!" Mion shouted, somehow grabbing her by her shirt collar. She stood there and pouted for a moment, but eventually let her go. "Now, give me a hand, and help me with Dan." Rena nodded, and grabbed the bucket on Dan's head, Mion grabbed one leg, and Rika and Satoko grabbed the other leg. "Alright, pull!" Everyone pulled as hard as they could, but it didn't seem to work at first. They kept it up for a while, looking as if they were going to pull him apart at any second. At the very moment they felt like giving up, something gave, and the bucket came off. The girls flew back, and fell on their backs.

"What's going on in here?" a familiar voice said. As the students turned to look at who said it, there was a gasp, followed by a complete eruption of laughter. "You'd better have a good explanation for this, you four."

"Why? What did we…?" Mion stopped as she looked at what she was holding in her hands, as well as what Rika and Satoko were holding in theirs. While Rena had been fortunate enough to get the bucket off of Dan's head, Mion, Satoko and Rika had received their own little souvenir from the experience. "Chie-Sensei, this isn't what it looks like, I assure you!" waving Dan's pant leg around frantically.

"I certainly hope there is, Miss Sonozaki, I certainly hope so."

Quickly, the four of them explained what happened, about how he seemed like he was a little off that day anyways, and had fallen prey to one of Satoko's traps. They then explained their efforts in trying to get him out of his plight, up until the point where Chie Sensei had walked in. She just chuckled to herself, and shook her head.

"Very interesting," she said. "I guess there's nothing to do except accept that, and take care of this little problem. Find something to put on him, and set him over there in the corner until he wakes up." The girls nodded, and went to their closet at the back of the room. They started rifling through it, but they couldn't find anything descent to substitute for pants.

"It looks like all we have are dresses and skirts," Satoko said.

"That'll have to do, I suppose," Mion said, chuckling slyly. The others chuckled a bit, too, and hurried and slipped him into a skirt. "Hope he doesn't mind too much…"

Once they had him fixed up, they started class. Keiichi slowly pulled himself back together, forgetting all about Dan, due to his being on the receiving end of a Rena punch. It wasn't until about twenty minutes had gone by that Dan woke up. He stood straight up, sat down in his seat, and began listening to the class lecture. Everyone stopped for a moment when it happened, but since Dan didn't seem to notice, or care for that matter, that something was askew, they kept right on going. It wasn't until the end of the day, when everyone else had gone, that Dan finally said something. He looked down at his skirt, looked back up, and just stared off into space for a couple minutes.

"I really don't remember putting this on today," he said aloud. Everyone stopped, and froze, waiting for him to erupt like anyone would have expected, but it didn't happen. There wasn't any tone of anger, or confusion in what he said, or any visual cues that would tip them off to the fact he was upset. He turned to face Mion, and looked her dead straight in the eyes. "Do you know why I'm wearing a skirt?"

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing," Keiichi said. Mion just stood there with a blank expression on her face, slightly stuttering.

"Well, I, uh… you see, it was like…"

"What is it?"

"You had an accident," Rena said, jumping in to save Mion. "A bucket of water fell on you head, then you tripped on a wire, and you landing on your head."

"Alright, how does that explain my skirt?"

"I'm getting to that," she said. "We tried to pull the bucket off of your head, which we got, but your pants came off, too."

"…"

"…Are you okay?" Mion asked.

"Is that all that happened?" Dan asked, still looking as calm as a summer's morning.

"Yeah, that's it." Rena said. For a moment, he just stood there not saying a word.

"Well, what can I say? Accidents happen. Moving on then, what are we doing for today's club activity?" Everyone now gave Dan a blank stare, absolutely puzzled why he wasn't upset, or at least why he wasn't showing it. Despite that, however, they decided to take it as a stroke of good luck, and move on.

"I was thinking about a few rounds of old maid," Mion said slyly.

"Sounds good to me," Keiichi said. "What do you say, Dan?"

"…Old maid, eh?" Dan asked, in a slightly suspicious tone. "I suppose that would be fine. Do you mind if we use my cards, though?" The girls all eyed Dan suspiciously, wondering what he was thinking.

"Why do you want to use your cards?" Satoko asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"I wanted to try out my new set of cards, seeing I picked them up just the other day. Is that okay? If it's not, I don't mind at all."

"I think we'd like to use ours," Mion said curtly.

"Mion, it's just a game. You don't need to get upset about it," Keiichi said. Mion snapped back, realized how she had just come across, and tried to laugh it off.

"Well, it's just that we've used these ones for so long, it would feel weird not using them."

"I see," Dan said, though his suspicions were still intact. "Why don't we make today's game a tad bit more interesting then?"

"What do you mean?" Mion asked.

"I mean we should raise the stakes a bit, more of an incentive to win, ya' know?" Mion and the others looked at each other, and huddled for a moment to discuss it.

"What are you up to Dan?" Keiichi asked quietly.

"I'm testing a theory my friend, just testing a theory."

"I hope you know what you're doing." The girls turned back now, and gave Dan a confident look.

"You're on Dan. What are we playing for?" Mion asked.

"Let's say if I win, you have to go on a date with me this weekend." Mion went beet red, and stammered incessantly for about ten seconds. The other girls were equally stunned, along with Keiichi.

"W-w-w-well, what do I get if I win?" Mion asked.

"Oh, I don't know use your imagination."

"What about us?" Rena, Satoko and Rika asked.

"Same offer stands, whatever you can think of, I'll do it." All the girls' eyes began glowing like stars, and the room was suddenly filled with a very creepy feeling. It felt like someone had just said, "Bring it on!" and the reply came back, "You really don't know who you're dealing with, do you?" Still, it appeared that Dan didn't care in the slightest what was happening, or what could happen, depending on how the game went. Keiichi, on the other hand, was sweating bullets, creating a puddle on the ground.

"What about Keiichi?" Rena asked.

"He's not included in our wager; if you want to make one with him, that's between y'all and him." Rena pouted for a moment, but she didn't keep it up for very long. "Are we agreed?" Dan said, putting his hand out. Mion instantly clasped hands with Dan, and the shook on it.

"You're on! I hope you enjoy…well, I'll decide after I've won," Mion said smugly.

"I can only imagine," Dan said, grinning.

Mion shuffled all the cards, and dealt them out. Dan scanned his cards, pilled them up, and quickly covered them. The girls eyed him as if he had just shot somebody; Keiichi just looked puzzled. Dan didn't flinch, although he was a bit nervous on the inside.

"Why are you hiding your cards Dan?" Rika asked innocently.

"No reason in particular, is that a problem?" Rika looked a bit concerned, but she didn't do anything about it. The others were still upset, but remained silent as well, although Dan could almost feel the daggers they were shooting at him visually. "I've just got to make sure they don't see the cards in my hand, or the ones I pick up. Otherwise, I'm toast…" Dan thought to himself.

Even though there was a feeling of unrest in the air for the first few minutes, they continued with their game. It was rather bumpy to start, but eventually they got a good feel for how the game was going to play out, and they were able to have a good time. As Dan suspected, the girls decided to target Keiichi instead of him, as they were able to tell which cards were which. They didn't let Keiichi on to their secret, but it was slightly obvious. Keiichi just ranted and raved about how he wasn't able to get ahead, but it didn't go much further than that. Leaving him out, the wins stayed surprisingly balanced, despite the amount of cheating that was going on.

By the time they finished playing, it was nearly six o'clock. Satoko finished tallying up the total number of wins for everyone. When she had finished, everyone looked up at the board to see who won. Everyone stared blankly, and rubbed their eyes in disbelief, all except for Rika, who just smiled.

"How'd that happen?" Mion asked.

"Hauu…" Rena cried.

"That was completely unexpected," Dan said in a rather flat tone. "I guess I was so concentrated on beating Mion, I didn't really pay attention to the others," he thought to himself.

"Nipah!" Rika said playfully. "Looks like I win!"

"That appears to be the case," Keiichi dully rattled. "I can't remember the last time I actually won…" Dan laughed softly, and simply shook his head.

"Okay, you've won. What is it you'd like then?"

"I'm not sure," Rika said, pouting slightly. "Can I have some time to think about it?"

"That's fine with me."

"As for the rest of you," Rika said, her eyes glimmering with that scary glint. The others shuddered, while Dan slowly inched away. "I've got something in mind you should all…enjoy."

Ten minutes later, Dan was out cold on the floor, and the others were trying to wake him up. Everyone, including Keiichi, was wearing a bunny girl outfit, ears and all. It was rather amusing to watch Dan light up like a Christmas tree, from head to toe, and steaming like a train at full tilt right before he hit the floor.

"That wasn't the sort of reaction I'd expect from Dan," Mion said.

"I wonder what happened." Keiichi said while trying to keep his suit on, since he didn't exactly 'fill it out' like the others did. "If it were me, then…"

"You'd what?" Mion asked, eying him threateningly.

"I'd…keep my mouth shut," Keiichi muttered.

"Is that so, Kei-chan?" Mion asked him, still ready to pounce on his slightest mistake.

"I want to take them home!" Rena said,

"I still need to talk to Dan, but you can have Keiichi," Rika said innocently. Rena beamed brightly, while the others took a few steps back.

"W-w-w-w-what are you saying, Rika?" Keiichi stammered. Before anyone could say another word, Rena was already out the door with Keiichi in tow. The others raced after her, seeming to forget what they were wearing. Rika sat still grinning for a while, until she was sure that the others were completely gone. As soon as they had all left, and it seemed they weren't going to be coming back any time soon, her facial expression changed from happy to heavy concentration.

"Dan," she said, lightly stroking his head. "What's going on in that head of yours right now? Let's find out, shall we?" She pulled out a small capsule, snapped it in half, and waved it under Dan's nose for just a few moments. Dan instantly shot up, holding his face, and yammering senselessly.

"OMG! WTF?"

"Are you alright?" Rika asked.

"No, not really…" Dan growled. "It feels like someone shoved something sharp up my nose, and now my whole head hurts. What the hell was that?"

"It was smelling salts; you passed out, and I needed to talk to you about something."

"Where are the others?" Dan asked.

"Rena started chasing after Keiichi, saying, "I want to take him home!" They've been gone for about five to ten minutes now," Rika explained.

"How long was I out for?"

"I'd say about ten to fifteen minutes." Dan sat up, and gave Rika a strange, hurt look.

"Where the hell'd she get smelling salts?" Dan thought. He quickly shook it off, and scratched his head. "What is it you wanted to talk about Rika? …What's with that serious look, eh?"

"You've been acting really strange since the other day; is something bothering you?" Dan's eyes shot wide open, and it felt as if all the gears in his head had suddenly come to a grinding halt once again. Of all the people he had expected to hear that question from, he least expected Rika. He didn't want to come right out and say it, but at the same time, he did. Dan thought a moment, and decided to see exactly what it was she had noticed.

"How do you mean?"

"There are a few things that I thought were strange, like when you fainted after seeing Satoko and I at the hospital. What was that about?"

"Well, that's hard to…"

"What about when you came and talked to the village elder? You left him without explaining why you were so upset."

"Now, how'd you…"

"What about today's card game? How did you know you should cover your cards? No one ever told you that we…" she stopped mid-sentence.

"…were cheating?" Dan asked. Rika was absolutely shocked, and couldn't respond immediately. "Rika, do you know something that I don't?"

"I should be asking you the same question," Rika said. "In fact, how did you know?"

"I'm not sure you would believe me if I told you; that, and I'm not too sure if you'd like to hear it anyways."

"No, I really think I would like to hear what you have to say." Dan took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

"Okay, but It's going to sound rather farfetched."

Keiichi and the others were slowly on their way back to the school to get their regular clothes. By the time they noticed where they were, and what they were wearing, they were already halfway to town. A patrolling officer drove by, and almost hit a power line because of what he saw. He hopped out of the car, and gave them a stern talking to before he let them go on their way.

"I can't believe that happened," Keiichi moaned.

"Yeah, I think the village had gotten used to our little antics," Satoko said.

"The village might have, but I don't know about the police officers from town," Mion said. "What really caught me off guard is the fact that Rika came up with this idea of bunny suits. I'd expect that sort of thing from Kei-chan."

"You're telling me," Keiichi said. "I think the real culprit behind this is…hey!"

"Speaking of which, where is Rika?" Rena asked. "I thought she came with us." Everyone stopped, and looked around.

"She isn't here!" Mion exclaimed.

"I suppose she's just back at the school with Dan," Keiichi said, trying to calm Mion down. Once Keiichi suggested that, the others took a moment to think about it, and agreed that that was the case.

"It is getting rather late, so we'd better hurry," Satoko said, "Rika and I still have some shopping to do for dinner tonight."

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the school, but when they went to the classroom, neither Dan nor Rika were there. Instead, they found a note on Dan's desk, which read:

"Hey,

Rika and I had a couple of things we needed to do, so if you're wondering – we won't be back tonight.

Satoko, you can just head straight back to your place, we're doing the shopping right now.

Later."

"What's that all about?" Keiichi asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think as long as those two are still together, they should be fine," Satoko said. "I'd rather have Dan be with Rika, than Dr. Irie." The others had a strange thought about Dr. Irie and Rika, and then shuddered in unison.

"In any case, it is starting to get dark; we should all head back home," Mion said. "There's nothing else to do around here."

"True," Keiichi said. "I just want to get out of this stupid bunny suit, and never think about it again."

"Oh Kei-chan…" Rena said slyly.

"Huh?" Keiichi turned around, and saw a bright light, preceded by a small click. "Gah! What was that?"

"It's a picture for my collection!" Rena giggled.

"Oh, I don't think so!" Keiichi said, trying to grab Rena's camera, "It's bad enough I have to wear these ridiculous get ups, I don't want any physical proof that it happened!" Rena continued to laugh, and slip just out of Keiichi's reach each time. Everyone eventually started laughing, got changed, and headed home.

Meanwhile, Dan and Rika were walking back home from the open-air market. Dan was just finishing going over the details of everything that had happened in his 'dream,' while Rika was listening intently.

"…The last thing I remembered was lying in the hospital bed, and drifting off to sleep. After that, I woke up in this white room, and somehow got out of that to find myself floating in a weird sort of time warp, sci-fi, thing… That was strange, I must admit. Any-hey, I found this girl that I thought was you for a while, but then she said something strange and just vanished. I leave there, and I somehow end up at the shrine." He stopped talking, and began walking a lot slower. "I really don't want to talk about the rest." Rika stopped, and looked up thoughtfully at Dan.

"I know what happened next; I was dead on the steps of the shrine." Dan froze, feeling rather hollow inside.

"How did you know that?"

"It's been happening to me for as long as I can remember." Dan was completely flabbergasted, and unable to come up with any sort of response to what Rika told him. He just stood there stammering, while Rika continued to explain her side of the story. "I didn't think it was going to happen this time, since you came along, but it did. Only a few days after you went to the hospital, a group of men showed up at my house, dragged me away, and brought me to that shrine the same way it's always happened."

"B-b-bb-b-b-b-but…why?" Dan blurted.

"I don't know for sure," Rika sighed. "Every time it happens, I wake up, and it's still June. I hope that somehow, things will be different, but it's always turned out the same way. I had almost given up until you came along, as I had mentioned before. It's always been just the others and myself, but you just happened to show up out of the blue, and take a stand against it."

"I hardly did anything to help," Dan groaned.

"You did do much more than you give yourself credit for," Rika said, trying to console Dan.

"Thanks," Dan said. "But hell, I never would have guessed people like that were coming after you! What kind of twisted psycho would come up with that kind of crap, just for kicks and giggles? I've got a right mind to…" Dan started fuming, and ranting uncontrollably, and swearing up a storm.

"It's rather interesting, though," Rika continued, ignoring Dan's comments, "The fact that you're still here, and remember what happened..."

"Yeah, I remembered – how could I forget that?" Rika shook her head, and looked right into Dan's eyes.

"It's never happened before."

"? Come again?"

"I said, that no one else has ever remembered before. Life just goes on like it always has, as if it had never happened before."

"That's…that's just…aruh?" Dan grunted, scratching his head. "You mean, no on e, as in…absolutely no one?" Rika simply shook her head. "Haven't you tried asking for help before?"

"Well, think for a moment about how you reacted, and think how the others would react."

"…Damn," Dan muttered, "I guess you have a point there…but still!" Dan was scratching his head even harder now, and pacing back and forth. Rika started to laugh, which eventually got Dan to calm down, and think about what he was doing that would make her laugh. "What is it?"

"I'm just happy to see that you care so much, and that YOU believe me."

"I'd be an idiot not to," Dan said, "I was thinking you'd just laugh my story off as a bad dream. I tried asking Keiichi indirectly about this, and now, it makes more sense, in regards to the fact that he had no idea what I was talking about."

"Well, we can talk about this later. Let's just get home, and get some dinner ready before Satoko gets home."

"Yeah, I think a good meal would settle me down a bit, so I actually CAN think," Dan said. "If you don't mind, though, would you like me to make it?"

"You can cook?" Rika asked, somewhere between shocked and playing around.

"Of course I can cook! I had to live on my own for a few years before I came this way. I didn't eat-out all the time; otherwise I'd be bigger than a boulder!" The two of them laughed, and went on their way home.

Once they got there, Dan started preparing dinner. Rika stood back, and watched as he breezed through the kitchen, washing this, and cutting that.

"You weren't kidding, were you?"

"Well, I figure if you like something, you should learn how to do it right. Getting the speed down is a nice perk, too."

"Who taught you?"

"I basically taught myself, though I did remember a few things from home, before I was disowned."

"At least your parents are still around, I guess," Rika said.

"Speaking of parents, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while: I don't think I've ever met them. Where are they?"

"They died about two years ago," Rika said, looking somewhat sad.

"Whoa," Dan said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry about it. I'm used to them being gone." Dan had slowed down, but he kept working while he continued his conversation with Rika.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened exactly?" Rika turned away, and stared off blankly across the room. She remained silent for several moments before she answered Dan's question. "Was that too straight forward a question for me to have asked?" Dan thought.

"People say it was because of Oyashiro-sama's curse."

"Oyash…what?"

"Oyashiro–sama," Rika said, correcting Dan. He just stood there with a confused look on his face. "Have you never heard the legend?"

"Can't say that I have; you wouldn't mind explaining it, would you?" Rika nodded, and took a deep breath.

"Oyashiro-sama was a god that this village used to worship years and years ago. Though he was able to establish peace in the village, he seemed to be rather violent and aggressive to those who didn't, how should I put this, conform, to his wishes. Villagers would mysteriously vanish, or found dead, and the reason would always end up having something to do with him.

"It was also believed that he kept the 'demons' that came out of the Onigafuchi marsh, at bay. Eventually, people got tired of it, or simply just forgot about him, and life continued as normal for quite some time. That was, until about four years ago, when the deaths and disappearances started happening once again.

"At first, it was all thought to be a simple murder, so the police looked into it. They searched for a long time to find the person responsible, but they were unable to do so. Rumors started to rise that it was the wrath of Oyashiro-sama, and the villagers began to believe in him once again.

"Since that first murder, there has been one murder, and a disappearance every year, and they always take place around the time of the of the Watanagashi festival." Dan had to stay still for a moment, so he could process all the information he had received. It didn't make a lot of sense to him that demons and ancient Buddhist gods would really exist, and how they would suddenly be causing murders and disappearances once again, seemingly out of the blue. He had a look on his face that almost screamed, 'that sounds like a total load of bullshit,' but he didn't want to come right out and say it.

"Rika, what is your take on this whole thing?"

"To be honest, it is rather difficult to believe. Something about it doesn't sit well with me. That and I have by reasons to believe that Oyashiro-sama isn't the one responsible for these 'disappearances.'"

"Oh, why do you say that?" Dan asked.

"It's because…" Rika cut herself short, as she heard the front door open. "We can talk about this later." Dan nodded, and started making the final preparations for dinner.

"I'm home!" Satoko said as she walked into the kitchen. She looked rather startled for a moment when she saw Dan in a position she thought Rika or herself should have been in. "What are you doing here Dan? And, why are you cooking?"

"It's nice to see you, too," Dan said flatly. "How was the rest of your day?"

"Wait, I didn't really mean that the way it sounded…" Satoko said. Dan simply laughed, and kept on working.

"I'm just giving you a hard time, don't sweat it." Satoko laughed softly, and just shook it off. "Seriously though, how was the rest of your day?"

"It was...interesting."

"Why's that?"

"Right after you passed out, Rena started chasing Keiichi, and we were dumb enough to follow them just outside of town. Then, it just went downhill from there."

"I can imagine," Dan said, remembering his earlier situation with all the girls going after him. "That was totally strange…"

"So, why were you here again?" Satoko asked.

"Well, that is…" Dan stammered.

"I invited him over for dinner, because I had something I needed to have you home to discuss," Rika said, saving Dan. "We went over it at school, and felt that we should get your approval on the matter."

"What is it?" Satoko asked.

"Do you mind if we ate first?" Rika asked, "I'm pretty hungry since we rushed breakfast this morning. Besides, I'm curious to see how Dan's cooking turned out."

"You've got a point there," Satoko said, "I must admit that it smells really good. Let's see if it's up to our standards." Dan felt as if an invisible knife had just been lodged into his back.

"I'm not sure if that was necessary," Dan groaned to himself. He turned to Rika, and asked, "Would you please set the table?"

"Sure," she replied, grinning widely, "Do you need help with anything else?"

"No, I've got it, but thanks for asking."

"I'll get the drinks, then," Satoko said. Dan nodded, as he finished setting everything out, and started bringing it over to the table. Rika stopped and stared at what Dan had made, and her eyes kept getting wider as he brought each plate over.

"Did we actually buy all that?" Rika asked.

"Yeah, I believe so." Satoko turned around, and saw everything, and had an equally shocked reaction, as did Rika.

"You really didn't help him?"

"Nope, this is all his work."

"Well, are we just going to sit around looking at it, or would you like to actually eat?" Dan asked as he tried to keep his eyebrow from twitching too much.

"Uh, all right then," Satoko said, with a look on her face that just said, 'Whatever.'

"Ikidakimasu!"

One hour later...

"That was the best meal I've had in a long time," Rika said. Dan simply flushed and scratched his head.

"Oh…I, well…uh, thank you."

"Where'd you learn how to make this?" Satoko asked, just as red in the face as was Dan.

"I just was winging it. Why do you ask?"

"It reminds me of my parents' cooking," Satoko said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. Dan looked over at Rika, and silently asked,

"Did her parents…?" Rika nodded, and gave a slight grimace. "Damn," he thought, "Probably chalked it up that Oya-bullshit. This keeps getting fishier, the more I think about it."

"So, what is it you wanted to discuss, Dan?" Satoko asked.

"I think you should ask Rika, since this was her decision," Dan said, looking to Rika to bail him out once again. Satoko looked at Rika, and waited for an explanation.

"Right then," Rika said. "Seeing that Dan said he would do anything I wanted for winning today's card game tournament today, it got me to thinking. With a window that wide open, I had to think a bit about what I wanted."

"Where is she going with this?" Dan asked himself. "We didn't even bring this up…"

"…So we agreed that he would be staying here, as our servant." Dan felt his face start to fall off, as every possible response that came to his mind started bouncing around like a game of pong gone out of control. Satoko seemed to be having a similar response, but not to the extent of Dan's.

"How long were you planning on keeping him here?" Satoko asked.

"For the whole month," Rika said. Dan still sat there looking like an idiot, so Rika gave him a swift kick to the shin without letting Satoko notice.

"Y-y-y-y-you're absolutely right," Dan said, "What do you say?"

"What exactly will he be doing?"

"Anything we ask him to." Satoko smiled, as she began to think of all possible things she could have Dan do for her. Dan could almost see the gears turning in her head, and he felt all his happy feelings fading away, leaving him feeling like a hollow shell of himself.

"Sounds good to me then," Satoko laughed. "It will be nice to take a break from cooking every day; right Rika?"

"Absolutely!" Dan stood up, not saying a word, started clearing the table, and doing the dishes.

"Look at that, already eager to get to work! I'm going to love this!"

"…This isn't what I expected at all…" Dan thought, as he slowly set to his new duties. "This is going to be a long month, I can say that much right now."

The rest of the night went rather slow for Dan, seeing that neither Rika nor Satoko went easy on him. As soon as he finished the dishes, they had him scrub the floors, clean the fridge, vacuum the stairs, turn down their beds, and brush their teeth. Satoko even went so far as to ask him to tell her a bedtime story. While he was smiling on the outside, he was doing his best to contain his annoyance on the inside.

When he had finished the story, both Rika and Satoko were out like a light. Having tucked them in, he started to wonder where he was going to sleep.

"Figures," he groaned, "They had me so busy, that I didn't even think about asking where I could sleep." He started wandering around, and looking for a place where he could get somewhat comfortable. "Doesn't seem to be an extra bed, couch, futon, or whatever, anywhere…such is my life, I suppose."

"There is a spare room upstairs."

"Oh, thanks Ri…?" Dan cut himself short, as the gears in his head began to turn. "Wait a second, Rika's asleep…and that voice sounds…" he slowly turned around to see the same little girl he had seen earlier that week sitting in the windowsill. After looking at her for a moment, he noticed there was something about her that didn't look quite how Dan had remembered her.

"G-g-g-g-ghost? You're a fradgin' ghost?" Once again, a look of surprise spread across the young girls face, and she shouted,

"What? You can actually see me?"

"Dan, would you please shut up!" Satoko shouted, as she lobbed something through the air, and nailed him right in the face. "Can't a girl get any sleep around here?" Dan made some strange sound, and faded off out of consciousness.

Dan woke up feeling as if someone had wrapped him up in a ball, and left him that way all night. He crawled over to a wall, and used it as a support to get up to his feet. Glancing back, he saw what had hit him, and knocked him out.

"What the…? Where the hell did she get a washbasin? There wasn't one in here that I could see, anyways." Deciding not to give it too much thought, he tried to get himself going. Bending down slowly, he stayed that way for a moment, then shot straight up, and stretched as hard as he could. Every joint in his body cracked like a firecracker gone crazy, which gave him an odd, but pleasing, sensation. "I've never done that before…" Looking over at the girls, he noticed they were still both sound asleep. Dan grunted, and simply ignored it for the time being, and started making breakfast and lunch for everyone.

"Come to think of it," Dan thought, "I can't really remember the last time I did this; cooking for other people, and actually caring about them. Hell, I can't really imagine what I'd be doing right now if I didn't jump ship, and land myself here in this little bumpkin town. It sure as hell beats what I was doing before." Dan frowned, and thought back to the night he had killed all of those soldiers at Keiichi's place. "That's the same shit I tried to get away from, and I find myself getting right back into that same mess. Looks like I might have to pick up that lovely habit one more time, depending on what happens. …But why would they go after Keiichi? Hell, why did Mion and Rika flip out like that, getting so bent on putting him away?" Again, Dan just groaned, and kept working. "I'll just have to look into this on my own, unless Rika knows, and just hasn't told me yet.

"Come to think of it," Dan continued, "I don't remember Rika acting this way before. She's acting about ten to fifteen years older than she is…does that have something do with what she was talking about earlier? Just how long has this been…?" Dan quit his rambling, having heard someone in the other room rustling around, and begin coming towards the kitchen.

"…Uh? Good morning Dan," Rika said. "Did you sleep all right?"

"It certainly wasn't the best night I've ever had, but it wasn't the worst, either."

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "Where did you sleep?"

"I wasn't too sure where I was supposed to sleep, but I…"

"What's that smell?" Satoko asked, walking into the kitchen, still half asleep. Dan frowned, and looked over dully at Satoko.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine," Dan said. "(Can't she say anything nice?)" Satoko blushed a bit, but quickly shook it off. "It's breakfast."

"Huh?"

"You asked what that smell was, right? I dunno if you like pancakes, eggs and bacon, but that's what I felt like having today. Is that all right with you?"

"I suppose that'll be fine."

"I'm overwhelmed by your kindness…" Dan thought. "Could y'all gimme a hand with this?" They nodded, got everything moved over, and had breakfast. They went over the usual morning chatter, such as things they thought were funny from the previous day, among other things. Nothing really came up…until after they had finished.

"Well that was surprisingly good," Satoko said. Dan could tell if she was half-joking or half-serious; he rolled his eyes, and groaned.

"I don't know if I can take this…" Rika patted Dan on the head, seeing that he felt rather down.

"There, there."

"Wow, looks like Dan already got our lunches finished, too! Getting this type of treatment every day is something I really could get used to!"

"This officially sucks ass now…" Dan stopped paying attention to what the girls said for the rest of the morning, and just cleaned up. When Rika asked him what was wrong, he told her that he wanted to say home for the day. She agreed, and handed him a piece of paper, telling him to read it after they had left for school. He agreed, and helped the girls get ready.

By the time they had walked out of sight, Dan took the note out, and read it. His face fell, and he could feel a vein in his head begin to throb.

"What…the hell is this?" It was a list of chores for Dan to finish before the girls got back from school. "They've gotta be kidding me! Were they already counting on me showing up and staying? This is total bull…Huh?" Dan took a good look at what he was wearing; the vein in his head kicked it up a notch. "Why the hell am I wearing a skirt...and an APRON? Oh no…this is not okay. No way in HELL this is going to fly!"

"You could finish reading the note, you know?" said a familiar voice. Dan all but jumped out of his skin, as he turned around and saw the little horned girl standing right behind him.

"Bah! Where'd you come from?" Dan shouted, backing up into a wall.

"Au, au au…" the girl cried, "Please, don't be upset!" Dan took one look at the girl, especially her puppy-dog eyes, and melted.

"Uh…I'm sorry. It's just that you caught me off guard, ya' know? I haven't really met any semi-transparent…people before…"

"I guess that's alright," the girl said. Even though it seemed that she understood how Dan felt, she still looked a bit disappointed.

"Well, come on now... Apparently someone being able to see you hasn't happened before, right? Whaddaya expect?"

"That's mostly true."

"Huh? Who else can see you?" Dan asked. The girl walked over to the table, and took a seat. She signaled for Dan to sit down as well.

"Finish reading that note; it should explain a few things." Dan frowned, but did as he was instructed.

"I thought this was just a list of stuff to do…? Oh, here's something:

"_Dan,_

_I noticed that you might have met someone last night before Satoko knocked you out. Her name is Hanyuu; she's the one I was talking about (remember how I said 'Oyashiro-sama isn't real). The only reason I'm still around today is because she has been reversing time. That's why the month of June has never ended for me. _

_While I do appreciate the opportunity to prolong my life, it has always ended the exact same way. Neither Hanyuu nor I are sure exactly who is behind it, but there's not much that we can do on our own. That's where I was hoping you could help us._

_Keep your eyes open, and take note of anything, or anyone that looks suspicious. Don't do anything unless you have to, at least for the time being. If you have any ideas, we'll talk about it tonight after Satoko's gone to sleep_

_Thanks,_

_Rika_

_P.S. – Please try to get everything done."_

"Hmm…I think I could have done without that last line," Dan said. "I've no idea in hell how I can get all this done today." He ran up and down the list a few times, and growled. Shifting his attention back to Hanyuu, he tried to force a smile, but it looked rather odd.

"So…you're Hanyuu, eh? (What's with the horns?) Nice to meet you; I'm Dan."

"I know. I've already met you. I'm just curious why you're able to see me now. In fact, no one has been able to see me except Rika, for a very long time."

"Really? That's interesting. Why don't you tell me more about yourself while I try to get this ridiculous list out of the way? It's going to take a while."

Meanwhile, Rika and Satoko arrived at school. They had just sat down, only to find Keiichi and the others waiting for them. Keiichi walked right over to their desks, and gave them an odd look.

"Hey, where's Dan?"

"I was wondering the same thing," Mion said.

"We were planning on discussing that with you, since we all decided on it last night," Rika said.

"Whoa, hold up a moment; what do you mean, we?" Keiichi asked.

"Satoko, Dan and I; remember our little card game yesterday?" Everyone nodded, a look of suspicion spreading across each of their faces. "As of today, Dan is our personal servant. He'll be at our house for the rest of the month. Nipah!" Everyone responded with a resounding 'WHAT?' nearly knocking the two girls out of their seats.

"How'd you decide on that?" Keiichi asked.

"It was one of the first things that came to mind."

"You could have at least called, and let me know so I didn't have to stay up wondering if he's gonna come home or not."

"That still doesn't explain why he's not here today," Mion complained. "(I was really hoping he'd be here…)"

"I'm sorry," Rika said. "…Why are you all dressed up today?"

"I was meaning to ask you that, too Mii-chan," Rena said, her eyes all aglow.

"Well, that is, I…I just…" Mion stammered, waving her hands frantically.

"She must have a crush on somebody," Satoko said, grinning devilishly. Mion's stammering got even worse now, as she turned reader than a cherry tomato.

"Wow," Rika thought, "Satoko nailed that one…"

"I wonder who it is," Satoko continued. "It can't be Keiichi, since he's already been here for a while, and HE didn't take notice of how nice Mii-chan looked. It's probably…!" Mion rushed over to Satoko, and covered her mouth.

"That's…that's…You need to mind your own business!"

"There's only one other boy here at school who's close to her in age," Rika said. "It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Mion let go of Satoko, and sat down in her own seat, still quite red.

"I'm sorry," Satoko said, "I didn't mean to upset you; just trying to have some fun." Mion thought about how she had reacted for a moment, and realized that she had gone a tad overboard.

"Don't worry about it…and, I'm sorry, too."

"Hey, there's no reason to be all bummed out, especially with the festival coming up!" Keiichi said, trying to lift everyone's mood.

"That's right! There should be plenty of games and activities to enjoy, nipah!" Everyone laughed, and the others took their seats.

"…But seriously, why isn't Dan here today?

"We had some chores we wanted him to do; so he'll be busy all day."

"What?" Keiichi asked, rather surprised, "Dan doing housework? That's something I've got to see." Mion wanted to turn around, and shout obscenities at both Rika and Satoko for what they were doing, but she refrained herself. Instead, she began thinking what she could do to 'borrow' Dan for herself.

"I guess I'll just have to wait until school gets out today…"

Dan had just finished the last item on his list, and sat down in the bathtub. He wasn't sore, but he was absolutely exhausted, since he all but rebuilt the house. It was a lot of work, and it would have been done a lot earlier if someone had been there to help him.

"At least now I don't have to worry about doing the same crap for some time now," Dan said. "Now I get to relax, and..."

DING DONG

"…"

DING DONG

"Ah, hell no, that's just wrong." Dan growled, got back out of the tub, and grabbed a towel. "This better be good, that's all I can say." He got all the way to the door, and was just about to open it when the door slowly opened on its own. Instantly, he went on defense mode, and ducked out of sight. A short, dark figure entered the house, and began poking around. Dan couldn't get a good look at the man's face, but he could tell just by looking at the guy that something was wrong with him. From what Dan could see, he looked somewhat like a tourist, since he was wearing a red Hawaiian shirt, and simple jewelry. The man kept grumbling to himself, while rummaging through this or that, apparently looking for something of value.

"Damn, this place is so clean, I can't find a thing…I wonder if there's something in his room? Yeah, that kid had a good amount of money, last time I saw him."

"Him; who's he talking about?" Dan thought. "I just moved in yesterday, he can't mean me…maybe he mistook this for someone else's house." Dan kept thinking for a moment, until he saw the man head upstairs. "Damn, I can't be thinking about what he might be doing, I gotta stop this guy!" Dan rushed up to the guy, and tapped him on the shoulder. Instantly, he jumped, gave a quick shout, and pulled out a gun.

"Whoizat?" The man turned around a few times, but couldn't see anyone. "I know I felt something; there's no way that was my imagination." He continued on his way, until he noticed a small drop of water hit the back of his neck. He spun around once again, cocked his gun, and began cursing.

"Shit…" Dan thought, just as the man looked up at him. The man didn't know exactly how to react initially, seeing Dan doing a sort of hand stand directly above him.

"What the hell…OMPH!" Dan quickly spun down, landing his foot directly into the man's face, sending him flying down the stairs, headfirst into a wall. As soon as he made contact with the wall, he dropped his gun, which skidded across the room. The man stumbled back up to his feet rather quickly, considering how hard he hit the wall, and started at Dan. Even though he was dazed, he still came across as a threat, sending hay-maker after hay maker in Dan's direction. Dan simply sidestepped after each blow, while trying to keep the man away from his gun. The man grunted with each miss, getting louder each time.

"This is ridiculous," Dan complained, "In fact, I don't know why I'm keeping this up." Dan grabbed the man's arm, flipped him over, and slammed him into the floor. The man bounced, and let out one final groan before he had completely faded out. Dan took his towel, and hog tied the man, and then got on the phone to call Oishi. No sooner had Dan picked up the phone, when the front door opened. Dan stared horrified at the front door as it opened, as he realized he was standing there in his birthday suit. Desperately, he scrambled to drag the man and the gun out of sight, while making sure he wasn't seen; he failed miserably. In a panic, he started scuttling around to take care of things. Before he could do anything productive, he tripped, fell over the man instead, and fell flat on his face.

"What's the matter Dan?" someone asked. Before Dan could think to answer, Rika, Satoko, and Mion all walked in, saw him lying there, and gasped.

"DAN?" Satoko shouted, absolutely shocked to see him lying there with his backside exposed to the world. "What is going –?" she cut herself short, as she took notice of the man lying there. Going silent as the grave, she hid behind Rika, and started shaking uncontrollably. Mion broke from her staring at Dan, and switched her attention to Satoko.

"What's wrong?"

"What…what is he…why is he here?"

"I could explain that," Dan said, "If you'll give me a few minutes to make myself somewhat decent."

"That sounds like a great idea," Rika said, "I was a bit curious why Dan's wandering around like that."

Ten minutes later, Dan came back downstairs, and explained everything rather quickly. After doing so, he called Oishi, and had him come over to pick the man up. Surprisingly enough, though, Oishi didn't feel like taking the man in. Of course, this set Dan off, and he started arguing with him about why he was so wrong.

"Whaddaya mean he didn't do anything wrong?" Dan snapped.

"I mean exactly what I said. Do you know who this man is?" Oishi asked, trying to remain calm.

"I don't give a damn who he says he is! He could be the flippin' prime minister for all I care. If he starts sneaking around the house, carrying a GUN and looking for money, I'm gonna kick his ass and ask questions later."

"I've noticed that; that's what got you into trouble the first time, or don't you remember?" Satoko and Mion both gave Dan a look like, 'What is talking about?'

"Long story, I'll tell you later," Dan said. He turned his attention back to Oishi, and snapped again. "Hey, why the hell'd you bring that up for? In fact, what does that have to do with this? A guy that wasn't supposed to be here is here, and…why am I even having this conversation with you? You've been in the law enforcement profession for quite some time now, and you know what the law is, enforce it!"

"I understand your concern Dan, but –"

"But what?"

"Let me finish, Dan. This man has the right to be here, unlike you. He's Satoko's uncle." Dan was just about to retort, but that sudden comment caught him by surprise. He stood there for a moment, his mouth opening and closing like a dying fish. "Now, why were you here? Not to mention the fact that you're also wearing a skirt."

"What is this, pick on Dan week?" Dan thought to himself, rolling his eyes angrily. "Look, I'm here because Rika asked me to come and stay." Oishi looked doubtful, so he looked at Rika to confirm it. She simply nodded, and gave Oishi a look which screamed, 'why are you being so difficult?' "I'm not bringing the skirt thing up – that has no relevance to what's going on right now."

"I guess you're fine to stay with Rika, if she invited you, but Mr. Hojo has a right to stay, since he is Satoko's legal guardian." Mr. Hojo laughed, and glared at Dan.

"Finally, someone's seeing it my way." Dan shot an evil stare at the man, which shut him up.

"Look – I can understand if he came in and started chatting with me, I wouldn't have a problem. I know what I saw, and I know what happened – if you can't accept that, I don't see any point in continuing this conversation."

"Then you may take your leave, Dan," Oishi said, his face completely devoid of any expression. Dan stood there for a moment, absolutely livid with Oishi, and even more so with Mr. Hojo. Then, Dan's demeanor changed completely; he simply smiled, and, making sure that no one else could see him, he stared straight into Oishi's eyes, threateningly.

"You just act in accordance to what you think is right; search it out in your heart… (If you have one.)" Oishi took a few steps back, obviously rattled by Dan's cold words and tone. "I'll be watching…both of you," he said, issuing a cutting glance to Teppei, before signaling to Mion and Rika that it was time to leave. They hadn't quite reached the door, when he felt a small tugging on his skirt. He looked down, and saw Satoko's tear stained face staring up at him.

"Please…you can't…I need you…" At this point, Dan couldn't stand it anymore; he broke into tears once again, with Satoko. Everyone in the room seemed to be growing incredibly uncomfortable, aside from Rika, but no one seemed to notice. Oishi looked at the two of them for a moment, and then looked at Teppei, who had a hard, uncaring look on his face. He groaned within himself, and shook his head.

"…Well, if you're going to cry about it," Oishi said, a wide grimace on his face. "I suppose I can take some time to consider who Satoko gets to stay with, but I'll need to – "

"WHAT?" Teppei roared; his face looked absolutely satanic. "You're going to have to CONSIDER who gets to STAY in MY HOUSE?" Oishi did not seem to mind, or care, about the volume or tone of Teppei's comments; he simply replied,

"It's obvious who she feels comfortable with, and it doesn't seem to be you."

"I don't give a flying SHIT what she wants!" he roared, pulling out yet another pistol, shoving the muzzle right into Oishi's chest; naturally, he froze instantly, and put his hands up. Satoko shrieked, and clung more firmly to Dan, who sobered right up, an oddly calm look on his face. Mion and Rika were also highly alarmed, trying not to agitate the man further.

"Now look here, Mr. Hojo, just take a moment, and – "

"Shut up!" he spat, glaring at Oishi, advancing and pushing him into the corner. "I didn't come all this way to be shut down by some back-woods, sorry excuse for a COP!"

"Volatile bastard, isn't he?" Dan thought to himself. Dan started formulating exactly how he to get the gun away from Mr. Hojo, when he felt an immense pain shoot up his spine, and directly into his heart. Dropping to his knees, he let out a mournful cry, which broke everyone's concentration away from Oishi.

"Dan, what's wrong?" Satoko asked in a highly alarmed voice.

"Shut up!" Teppei exploded, backhanding Satoko across the room. She hit the wall, and fell unconscious. Satisfied, Teppei turned his attention back to Dan, lying there, obviously enraged, but powerless to act. "Now, what the hell's wrong with you, prick?" Teppei growled, pointing his gun at Dan's head. Dan did not answer; the room got darker by the moment, whilst Teppei's voice faded into the background. Teppei laughed, grabbing Dan by the throat, and raising him to a standing position. "Got nothing to –"

Dan's eyes flew open, burning red; a sadistic looking smile spread across his face. Teppei quickly lost his nerve, nearly dropping his gun. Without warning, Dan kicked the gun out of his hand, spun around, and landed another roundhouse kick to Teppei's face, which sent him spinning into the air, and landing with a painful thud on the floor. Catching the gun, Dan planted his foot between Teppei's shoulder blades, cocked the gun, and jammed it right up to his brain stem.

"Game over, asshole…" Dan said, in an unusually low, scratchy voice. Everyone, save Satoko, stood deathly still for quite some time, before Oishi slowly reached for his handcuffs.

"You can relax now, Dan. I'll take it from here," Oishi said, as he eased Dan's hand away from the gun. Though he didn't resist, Dan's smile faded from his face, and he growled lightly. Dan gave Teppei a final foot grind for his own satisfaction, and turned his attention to Rika and Mion, who, amid the chaos, had crawled to Satoko's side.

"Is she going to be alright?" he asked, looking the situation over.

"Looks like it," Mion replied, "Though, she did hit that wall pretty hard. Would you get some ice water and a washcloth?" Dan hesitated for a moment, with a slight look of reluctance on his face. Mion did not seem to notice, but Rika did, which surprised her somewhat. Less than a minute later, Dan came back, and handed the basin to Mion. She thanked him, and began tending to Satoko.

"Are you alright Dan?" Rika asked. Dan stopped, and returned a puzzled look.

"What are you talking about?"

"Earlier, when you fell to the floor?" she said, eying him suspiciously. Dan did not answer her question, but issued a puzzled look. "By the way, what's the matter with your voice? You sound like you've been smoking for years…" Dan looked at her, and then turned to look in the window at his reflection, hiding a bit of alarm. By now, Oishi had taken Teppei to his car, having thrown him in the back seat, and came back. Mion took notice when Dan mumbled, "What the f…?" to himself.

"Dan, what's going on?" Oishi asked, putting his hand on Dan's shoulder. In a moment, it looked like Dan had received an epiphany. Dan chuckled a bit, and his eyes rolled upwards, then closed.

"That's right, it started over…" Dan mused inwardly, and then collapsed.

Dreading the sight of ceiling from a resting position, Dan mentally flipped the ceiling off.

"Wow, if looks could kill…"

Dan turned to face the source of the voice, since he was still trying to readjust to his surroundings. Once his hearing and vision came into focus, he could see that everyone was gathered around him, lying on a futon.

"What's going on?" Dan asked, struggling to sit upright.

"That's what we wanted to ask you!" Mion said, smacking him upside the head. Dan stifled a snappy remark, and decided it best to listen before jumping down her throat. "First, you act like you're having a heart attack, and the next second, you're sending that jerk flying across the room! What gives?" Everyone else nodded in agreement, showing their interest in Dan's answer.

Dan sat quite still for a few moments, trying to come up with an acceptable answer. He had failed to mention to any of them about his 'condition.' Further consideration on the matter reminded him that it wouldn't have mattered much had he told any of them, save Rika, seeing the situation all of them were in, though blissfully unaware of the truth. Despite that fact, Dan didn't feel like disclosing that piece of information quite yet. Then again, hiding the truth from his friends was another road he dared not cross so casually. It was true, however, that true that he had not dealt with such a violent reaction before. Perhaps it had something to do with the situation he now found himself in, living in Japan with people that actually cared about his well-being, as compared to how quickly his family had discarded him, even though he was relatively guiltless.

"Hello in there, anyone home?" Mion said, knocking on his head.

"Oi!" Dan murmured.

"Was it that difficult of a question?"

"Not really," Dan answered, sheepishly. "It's just that I'm not completely sure myself."

"How do you mean?" Oishi asked.

"As far as my reaction to Teppei, I admit that was rather overboard, but the pain I experienced prior to that; I've never felt that before now. I guess it had something to do with all the stress and confusion permeating throughout the room."

"Really? Do you think you should go to the clinic, and get checked out? I could take you there, seeing that it's on the way to the station," Oishi offered. Dan thought about that for a second, but decided against it.

"I'd rather not, at least, not right now. I feel it wouldn't be good with Teppei in the back seat." Oishi nodded, and seemed to agree with Dan on that one. "Besides, I'm feeling a lot better now. No need to make a mountain out of a mole hill."

"I'm not so sure it's just a mole hill," Mion said, "But, if you say that you're okay, that's good enough for me. If it happens again, though, I'll drag you to the clinic myself!" Dan took one look at her eyes, and knew she meant business. He simply sighed, and nodded in agreement.

"By the way Oishi," Dan said, turning his focus back, "Now that we've got that out of the way, what the hell gives with that whole situation with Teppei?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean just what I said! I get the fact that he's related to Satoko, but anyone with eyes could see that he's a total douche bag. Certainly not the fatherly type, if you know what I mean." Oishi had to stifle a laugh before responding.

"Yes, I do, but unfortunately that doesn't disqualify him from taking his role as a legal guardian."

"Wouldn't he have to receive that as a ruling from the court, before he could assume that responsibility?"

"As far as I know, he can take the role temporarily, but in order to make it final, he would need to go to court, yes. That's as much as I know, but don't quote me on that. That's not my specialty."

"I see..." Dan said, still annoyed, but accepted it nonetheless. "So, were you just trying to provoke him, so he'd forfeit his rights?"

"To put it simply, yes; I have you to thank for moving it along much quicker than I could have." A slight breeze passed through the room, and a distinct feeling of despair filled the room. Apparently Oishi picked up on the vibe, and put up his hands in protest. "Please don't take it the wrong way!"

"How the hell am I supposed to take it then?" Dan thought, mentally kicking Oishi in the ass.

"I'm not sure if there's a right way to take that..." Rika said. Dan suppressed a laugh, and after catching a glance of her facial expression, struggled not to laugh even harder. Oishi was not amused, but knew that he had set himself up for the responses he was getting.

"Anyway, for now, Teppei is out of the picture, and he won't be bothering anyone for a long time." Dan let out a sigh of relief, and smiled. "I'll leave you to yourselves now; I've got a lot of paperwork to fill out. Don't cause any more trouble, alright?" he finished, giving a cutting stare to Dan.

"Ayyy..." Dan thought, "I'm just a little bit protective of my friends, is that so bad?" Dan turned his attention to Rika and Satoko. "How's your head?"

"It's not too bad right now," Satoko answered, "But I'll be fine."

"That's good," Dan said.

"Although," Satoko continued, "I think I'm going to need a bit more help for a few days, just to make sure."

"Damn," Dan thought, "She's going to milk this for all it's worth..." Everyone had a good laugh at that. Rika took a look at Mion, and knew she had something on her mind that she wanted to share with Dan privately. Quietly, she tapped Satoko on the shoulder, and signaled her that they should go.

"It is getting kind of late," Rika said, "I'll go start dinner. Satoko, could you give me a hand?" They left the room, and let about a minute of silence ensue before they began their task. Mion mentally thanked Rika for her perception, and got right to business.

"So, Dan..." Mion started, "That was rather crazy, wasn't it?"

"Indeed, I couldn't agree more. I wonder why he decided to come around in the first place, don't you?"

"Yeah," Mion said, nodding slightly. "Damn, Mion! Get some courage, and just say what's on your mind!" she screamed inwardly. As dense as Dan was, he knew there was something else on her mind.

"Anyway..."

"Yes, anyways!" Mion shot, though caught slightly off-guard., "There was something I wanted to ask you..."

"Yes?" Dan sat quite still, waiting for it.

"What are you, um...doing tomorrow?"

"I had nothing planned at the moment. Did you want to do something?" Mion flushed, but continued onward.

"Yes, that's it!"

"Lunch and a movie sound good?"

"Perfect! I'll see you at noon at my place then!" With that, Mion bolted out the door, and started chirping like a robin having found a particularly juicy morsel, and secured it. A few minutes passed, and Dan just remained in a completely immobile state, trying to put together exactly how that had happened. At the same time, he was extremely excited, but it came out as neither. Before he could give it anymore thought there was a knock at the door.

"Dan, could you get that?"

"Sure," Dan said.

Upon opening the door, Keiichi slowly walked in, without waiting for permission, and dropped a bag just inside the doorway. He was covered in dust, and had a rather disheveled look about him. "Dude, what the hell happened? Are you alright?"

"I think so, thanks for asking. As far as what happened, I just got ran over."

"Run over? By what?"

"I think it was your girlfriend...

"Girlfriend...?"

"Yeah, Mion. She just charged out of here, not paying attention to anyone, or anything! ...Hey, you okay?" The word 'girlfriend kept ringing in Dan's mind, over and over again. Until now, the true meaning of the previous discussion hadn't fully sunken in. "Dan, don't tell me you've never..."

"Nope."

"And you haven't ever...?"

"Nope."

"Dan, could you give me a hand in here?" Rika asked, poking her head out of the kitchen. "...Keiichi, when did you get here? You look terrible."

"Thanks." Rika walked over to Dan, and waved her hand in front of his face; he didn't respond.

"What's wrong with him?" Keiichi leaned over, and whispered in her ear what had just happened. Rika shook her head and looked at Dan, but Keiichi nodded his. "Nipah..."

"Yeah...that's kind of what I was thinking."

"Do you want to stay for dinner, Keiichi?"

"Sure. ...Should we bring him along?" he asked, looking at Dan, who was off somewhere, lost in his imagination. Rika pondered it for a moment, and decided to be nice.

"I suppose so."

Dinner provided a slight improvement in Dan's attention span, though his mind was still racing, threatening to fly off the rails at any moment. Elated as he was, he still had the mystery to work on with Rika and Hanyuu, whenever she decided to show herself.

"I wonder what she does in her free time," Dan thought. "I guess it would be pretty sad and lonely when only two people know you're even alive."

"Dan, could you pass me some more rice?" Satoko asked. Dan reached for her bowl, filled it adequately, and handed it back without much thought.

"Dan?" Keiichi asked, handing him his bowl. Again, he filled and returned it.

"Umm, could you...?" Rika began, trying to get Dan's attention.

"Yeah..." Dan sighed. He tried not to let his mind come out on his sleeves, but he might as well have been trying to rob a bank with a wet noodle. "I wonder exactly how long this vicious circle has been repeating itself. What's the purpose of it all? ...Why is my lap all wet?"

"Dan! You're...!" Keiichi stammered, trying to take the soy sauce out of Dan's hands. Dan cursed under his breath, grabbed a few napkins, and started dabbing up the mess.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Satoko asked, "You've been completely out of it since you've woken up." She leaned over to Keiichi, and whispered, "He really hasn't gone on a date before?" Dan rolled his eyes, and face-palmed.

"No, I haven't, but that's not...I mean, that's...gah! I need to clean something!" He swiftly got up, forgetting there was a puddle of soy sauce beneath him. Scrambling to get a proper footing, he flew backwards, and landed on his back in the living room with a painful thud.

"I don't think I've seen him so out of it before," Keiichi groaned.

"I'm okay! Really!"

"By the way, I brought your clothes over in that bag by the door. You can get out of that skirt now, unless you..."

"Nope! Thank you! ...ugh..."

"There's some pain killer in the medicine cabinet."

"...Thanks..."

By the time Dan finished with everything, Keiichi had gone home, and the girls had stacked the dishes for Dan. He quickly washed and dried all of them, and finished up with his new nightly routine. He went upstairs to the guest room that Hanyuu had informed him about, and laid there until he heard a soft rapping at the door.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Dan said, as he sat up, trying not to look too tired.

"That certainly was interesting today, wasn't it?" Rika asked, as she sat down on the end of Dan's futon. "I've never seen you get so worked up before." Unsure of whether she was referring to dinner time, or the incident with Teppei, Dan just nodded politely. "There's that, and the 'other' incident was rather interesting, and embarrassing." Knowing exactly what Rika meant, Dan went cherry red, and started flailing his hands.

"H-h—h-hey now, I couldn't help that that loser came over when he did! Hell, I'd have preferred he didn't show up at all!" Dan continued ranting about Teppei for a while longer, and Rika just sat there smiling.

"Are you done now?"

"Yes..." he answered, hanging his head sheepishly.

"Well then, I'm sure you have a few questions about today," Rika said, still smiling, but her aura of childishness had clearly faded. Dan picked up on that, and followed suit.

"Yeah, I do. For starters, who was that guy exactly? I mean, I understand that he's Satoko's uncle, but why'd he show up in the first place?"

"I'm not one hundred percent certain myself, but I do know that he and his wife used to look after Satoko and Satoshi." Rika saw the confusion on Dan's face, and further explained herself. "Satoshi is Satoko's older brother. I'm not sure what happened to him, but after his aunt died, he disappeared shortly thereafter."

"Whoa, whoa! Their aunt just died? How'd that happen?"

"Do you remember how Keiichi started carrying around that bat last time?"

"Yeah, I thought I told him to knock it off, though. Then, that night I got all shot up...he almost, well..." Dan trailed off, wondering what would have happened, had he not intervened. "Don't tell me that Satoshi..."

"Unfortunately, yes. No one was there to stop him that day. Teppei had gone out for a few days, and actually never returned until now."

"Why did he do that?" Dan asked, his tension level rising dramatically.

"There's a condition that people fall victim to here in this little village. It's not exactly something we're very proud of. The exact cause of the illness isn't known, but it only comes out when people are extremely agitated, or paranoid.

"The conditions in which Satoko and Satoshi were living were definitely not ideal. The two of them, as you saw from Teppei, became verbally, and sometimes, physically abusive with the two of them. Satoko was much younger then, so she would turn to her older brother for respite. Satoshi couldn't fight back against his aunt and uncle at first, but eventually, the strain became too much for the both of them to bear.

"We tried to make their lives a little easier by instituting the after school club activities, since we couldn't do anything else for them. However, avoiding the problem doesn't make it go away. Eventually, Satoshi took matters into his own hands, and, well, the rest is history."

Dan sat perplexed for several minutes after the story, letting it all sink in. It was beyond him why people could be as cruel as to torture children like that, especially Satoko. "Sure, at times she could be a little annoying," Dan thought, "but who isn't? I know I probably bug the hell out of everyone sometimes, but that's life. Get over it, and get a flipping helmet!" His eyes welled up with tears at the thought of Satoko's sad face, as more images entered his mind of the life she must have led quietly in the shadows. The fact that she always put on a happy face everyday told Dan just how strong she was.

Satoko wasn't the only one who impressed him. There was Rika, having faced death countless times, over decades, nigh a century long. Terrified of losing his own life once was one thing, but to relive the same sordid fate within the time frame of less than thirty days blew his mind clear out of the park.

"Dan, it's alright," Rika said, while patting him on the head, trying to console him. "He's gone now, thanks to you. She won't have to deal with that anymore."

"I know, but the fact remains, that that's absolutely horrible! Things like that should never have to happen to anyone!" Dan growled, while wiping his eyes. "People like that don't deserve to walk on the streets. Dragging other people into their problems is beyond horrible, it's just..."

"I know," Rika said, "And you've done a wonderful job of making sure one more child will have a better life. That was very brave to stand up to him the way you did. We all have to be strong to make it through this life, and depend on each other. Without that, it can make for a miserable journey."

"True," Dan said, still weepy-eyed. "As long as I'm around, no one's going to mess with either of you. I'd rather die first."

"You don't need to put it like that, you know..." Rika said, giving Dan a concerned look.

"I know...I'm just making a point, ya know?"

"I understand. Now, if you don't mind going back to the matter of Teppei, what actually happened this afternoon?"

"Oh, that..." Dan said, scratching his head, and rolling his eyes. "That's an interesting story, though all the specifics aren't completely clear."

"I'm listening."

"Okay then" Dan said, taking a deep breath, "This is what I know. There's another person living inside of me; though, it's more like his soul. His name is Leonard. I guess it's similar to the situation Hanyuu and yourself, if I got the details right when I spoke to her this morning. The difference, however, is that when his soul manifests itself, mine recedes, and he takes over completely. He generally only comes out when the situation is quite dire, and there's a lot of fighting involved.

"Our memories are shared, insofar as he is willing to share them with me. That's why he was able to recognize everyone this afternoon. His attitude is generally cold on the surface, but he's really a good guy at heart."

"How long has he been around?" Rika asked.

"Since I was born, I believe. Like I said earlier, he only shares the essential memories with me, and what he deems essential isn't always what I think should be. That's why I don't know much more than just his existence. I've just been learning from experience as he's manifest himself. For some reason, he won't tell me about his previous life, before fusing with me. That's about all I know."

"That sounds...interesting," Rika said, still a bit confused, but she seemed convinced, nonetheless.

"Tell me about it," Dan said. "I wonder at times whether he's more of a Bane than a benefit. But, that's enough about me, let's move on with this question and answer session. What all do you know about this group of soldiers? When did they show up, and can you think of any type of motive? As far as I'm concerned, I keep drawing a blank." Rika frowned, and shook her head.

"I don't know much more than you do," she admitted. "I hadn't noticed them until they came around trying to kill me."

"Is that so? That's going to make this a tad more difficult to figure it all out."

"I'm sorry."

"That's okay, no need to fret. How about this, then? Let's assume that four years ago, when these murders started happening, are all related somehow."

"I'm not sure that they do all relate to each other," Rika said.

"Well, let's just think about it for a moment, assuming that they do all connect. Tell me who all has died, and disappeared."

"Okay, let me think about it...First was the director of the Dam project, but no one really disappeared. Next were Satoko's parents. After that it was Satoshi, and then my parents."

"With the exception of the project director, each of those individuals had a distinct tie to you, at least, I assume so, right? Did anything seem odd about the timing, specifically, besides the obvious?" Dan asked. Rika paused to think about it a touch longer than for Dan's previous question. Suddenly, Hanyuu wandered around the corner, and sat down beside Rika. Still not used to her sudden appearances, Dan jolted slightly.

"Au auu..."

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "How are you tonight?"

"Oh, I'm alright." She turned to Rika, and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"I can't remember anything unique about the times when Satoshi disappeared, and when Satoko and my parents died. Does anything come to your mind?" Hanyuu thought for a moment, and it looked like a light bulb came on.

"Wait a moment, I do remember something!"

"Well, what is it?"

"It was always right after the Watanagashi Festival!"

"..."

"...? Are you for real?" Dan asked, turning to Rika. "Is she joking?"

"Unfortunately...no." The realization that she had said something less than desirable slowly dawned on Hanyuu. She frowned, and a large sweat drop formed near the back of her head.

"How about you try again?" Dan asked, trying very hard to be polite.

"Oh, okay..." Hanyuu sighed.

After a good five minutes, the light bulb in her mind clicked on, and she smiled broadly. "I've got something else! It's something really important!"

"Good! Let's hear it then!" Dan said, somewhat doubting, but still hopeful.

"Right before Rika's parents died, they went to the clinic with Rika. The doctor and nurse there were researching something to do with Rika, but her parents didn't want it to continue. The doctor seemed okay with it, but the nurse seemed rather upset about it. A few days later, Rika's father had died, and her mother had disappeared."

"Hey, that's right..." Rika said, surprised that Hanyuu had remembered that information.

"Damn, that seems awfully suspicious," Dan thought, equally amazed with Hanyuu. "That's good Hanyuu, really good. That gets me to wondering, though..."

"Au hau?"

"By the nurse, I assume you're referring to Takano, right?" Hanyuu nodded. "Aren't Tomitake and Takano the ones who die this year? That's either really convenient, or really troubling, as far as Takano's concerned."

"What do you mean?" Rika asked.

"Well, this is another guess, but it sounds like she was directly involved with your parents deaths, or there's someone bigger behind the scenes pulling some strings. Maybe they were upset with something she did, and had her axed! But why kill Tomitake, too?"

"Come on Dan, you sound like a cheesy detective from a conspiracy theory movie..." Rika moaned.

"Well, you come on! This is all speculation right now, and it's something to go on, which is better than where we started, right?"

"That's true, I suppose."

"Then again, that only ties to one of the murders, assuming that there is a degree of man-made foul play going on. That doesn't help much, in relation to the whole of them combined."

"It looks like it's back to the drawing board on that theory," Rika said, looking disappointed.

"Hmm...I've got another idea. Hanyuu, I'd like to ask a favor of you."

"What is it?"

"Could you tail Takano during, and after the festival? I want to know exactly how she dies, and by whose hand she falls. I'd follow her around myself, but the killer might see me, and postpone it. I want to get this thing solved quickly, so we don't have another repetition or these same few weeks. Will you do that for me?"

"I'll do my best!" Hanyuu cheered.

"Now, is there anything else we want to discuss?"

"I think that's good for tonight," Rika yawned, forgetting how late it was. "Oh, by the way, I don't want to tell the others about this, at least, not yet." Dan thought to protest, but he had a good idea as to why she was thinking that way. It would be easier to have more eyes and resources on the playing field, but the chance for situational compromise was much higher, and he didn't want any more casualties than was absolutely necessary. It was enough to see Rika die; anyone else would have driven him to insanity.

"Alright, I promise."

"Rika, it's time to get up," Satoko said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and habitually began rolling up her futon. She went on ahead, and went through her regular morning routine for the next several minutes. She went down to the kitchen, and but didn't see Dan making breakfast. She looked at the clock on the wall, and saw that it was a few minutes after seven. Noticing that Rika still had not come out of the bedroom, she walked back, and stuck her head around the corner. "Come on, if you stay in bed –" Rika's futon was empty, and had already been rolled up. Running back to the kitchen, thinking she had missed her on the way back to the bedroom; she gasped, and began fearing the worst. She ran to Dan's room, threw open the door and her jaw almost hit the floor. Not only was Dan still in bed, but he had a visitor. An intense amount of confusion, and overwhelming rage filled her mind and facial expression. No word even came to her mind to describe the scene before her.

"Brrr..." Dan moaned, as he sub-consciously attempted to pull his sheets, but his arms wouldn't respond. He turned to face the door, wondering if Rika had left it open, and a cold morning breeze had wandered its way throughout the house. His eyes creaked open slowly, and everything was blurry. Blinking rapidly to remove the sleep from his eyes, he noticed Hanyuu's face right up in his own. Instantly, his face flushed red, after realizing that their lips were touching. Slowly, he backed away, confused and scared for his life. Focusing a bit more, he could see an ominous and shadowy figure just inside the doorway. Dawning on him like a deer in headlights waiting for the oncoming semi-truck, he knew it was Satoko. "She can't see Hanyuu, why would she be looking like she wants to murder me?" Sitting up as much as possible, he asked in a voice barely above a whisper, "What's wrong?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that..." Satoko said, venom dripping from every syllable.

"Come on, I asked you first," Dan asked, both irritated and nervous.

"Why aren't you sitting all the way up?"

"Huh? I was wondering the same – " Dan turned a few degrees to look what was holding his other arm down, and felt an icy chill shoot through his soul and down his spine when he saw a few strands of purple hair on his pillow. His head twitched as it turned like an old grandfather clock, until he was facing, and saw, Rika's face. Instantly, he turned to stone, repeating the phrase, "I'm going to hell! I'm going to hell!" like a broken record. Taking notice that it had finally clicked, Satoko felt a surge of confidence and justification for her choice of action.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Dan?"

"..."

"Satoko, what are you so angry about?" Rika asked, now finally having woken up. She looked at Dan, who lay there frozen, with a goofy looking half smile. Ignoring him momentarily, she sat up, and looked at Satoko's facial expression.

"I'm going to blow his face off, with a bazooka!" she said, cracking her knuckles. Now Rika got it, and she began laughing uncontrollably. Satoko stopped thinking about destroying Dan, and started laughing a little as well, though she was unsure as to why. Dan didn't dare move, for the fact that Satoko's mood might change at any moment.

"I just had a bad dream, so I came in here," Rika explained.

"Funny," Dan thought, "I thought I was having a bad dream, and I just hadn't woken up yet..."

"I didn't want to sleep on the floor, so I asked Dan if I could sleep in his bed with him. He was out like a rock, so I figured it would be okay."

"Oh," Satoko sighed, "That makes sense."

"How does this make any sense?" Dan screamed in his mind.

"Alright then. Dan, get up and start making breakfast," Satoko ordered, and left the room. Rika got out of bed, and left the room. After she left, Hanyuu decided it would be a good time to wake up. She looked at Dan, still stone stiff. She too, was not surprised to see him, though she was curious as to his present state.

"What happened?"

"...I have no opinion..."

"Auu?"

"Did you have a bad dream, too?"

"No, I was just lonely. There was that fact, and I noticed Rika was already there with you."

"I see."

"My dream ended rather well though...I think I met a prince, and he gave me a kiss. Do you know why that would be?" Hanyuu asked, blushing slightly.

"...I have no opinion..."

For the remainder of the morning, Dan was rather lifeless, though he did all that was asked of him, albeit slowly. Rika didn't seem to mind, but Satoko did feel some remorse for wanting to kill Dan. Giving her such a start like that was incredibly rude, but the fault was not solely his. She made several attempts to apologize, but whenever she saw his face, she didn't know whether to laugh, or feel bad for him.

As time rolled closer to eleven o'clock, Dan was still moping around like a slug. Satoko couldn't take it anymore, so she kicked him in the butt. Startled, he broke out of his 'pity-me' mode, and shot back to normal.

"Oi! What the hell was that for?"

"Look, I'm sorry I called you a lolicon this morning, alright?"

"You never actually called me that..." Dan said, recalling his anger after sensing Satoko's sincerity.

"Well, I implied it," she admitted. "Anyway, like I said, I'm sorry...now stop acting like it's the end of the world!"

"Thanks," Dan said, grateful to get that burden off his back.

"By the way, don't you have somewhere to be in an hour?" Rika asked, looking at Dan.

"Ah snap! That's right!" Dan said, starting to scuttle around like a pinball. "What do I say? What should I wear?"

"Something other than what you have on now," Rika suggested. Dan stopped, and looked at his current attire, and realized he was still in his pajamas.

"Gah!" Dan blurted, and began frantically shuffling around once again, then finally bolted up the stairs.

"Is he going to be okay?" Satoko asked, a look of extreme worry having spread across her face.

"I hope so, but I don't know for sure," Rika stated. They heard Dan crash, swear, and resume his frantic attempt to get ready.

"..."

"..."

Fifteen minutes later, Dan came downstairs, surprisingly still in one piece. Rika and Satoko both took one look at him, and were shocked.

"Is that really you, Dan?" Satoko asked.

"Yes, it is," Dan groaned. "I do know how to dress myself (seriously...)." He didn't feel that he was wearing anything particularly special, just a polo shirt and casual slacks. Granted, it was a small step up from his usual garb.

"Then why don't you dress this way more often?" she asked.

"I – I guess I never really thought about it much. It must be because I'm a typical guy, I suppose."

"You should by atypical then! I'm sure your attitude would reflect it more if you did." Rika nodded, and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Maybe I will then," Dan said, appreciating the confidence boost.

"By the way, do you know how to get to Mion's?" Rika asked. Dan gave a nervous chuckle, and the aura of assurance slowly faded from the room. "I guess I should have known that, you're still relatively new around here." Both the girls briefly explained how to get there, and then shoved him out the door.

It only took about twenty minutes to walk there, so he had plenty of time left over to think up exactly what they should do that day, insofar as where they should go for lunch, and what they should watch, etc. Once he felt confident about his decision, he buzzed for Mion on the intercom.

"Hello?"

"What the hell do you want?" an older, crass voice spat back.

"Gah!" Dan shouted, nearly falling backwards. Wondering if perhaps he had the wrong address, he looked at Rika and Satoko's note they had written for him. "This should be the right address," he thought. "Is the Sonozaki residence?"

"Can't you read? Of course it is! Now what do you want? You're not some asshole salesman, are you?"

"What the fuck is this person's problem?" Dan thought, fully considering ripping the speaker-box out of the wall. Still wanting to come across as polite, he tried to swallow his pride. "I was looking for Mion. We made some plans to go out today –"

"Oh, you're that Dan character! Who do you –?" She quit speaking abrupty, and Dan heard some incoherent shouting and some other unpleasant dialogue. Shortly after the confusion, Mion's voice came over the intercom.

"I'll be right out!" Dan stood there with a blank expression, wondering what that exchange was about. Worried, but not deterred, he tried to push it out of his mind and focus on the day ahead. He heard the door open, and Mion walked out, "Sorry to keep you waiting." Hardly believing his eyes, Dan tried his best not to look like an ogling idiot, surprised that Mion looked so nice. Words failed him as she simply stood there, smiling and blushing. "What is it? Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"No way, far from it!" Dan said, "If I could think of a word to best describe it, I'd say you're perfect!" Mion let that comment sink in for a moment, and by the look on Dan's face, she could tell that he was genuine in his remark. Both of them laughed, and blushed even more.

"Shall we get going?" Mion asked, looking back nervously at her house.

"Definitely," Dan agreed. "What would you like to do first? Are you hungry now, or would you like to hit up a movie, and then do lunch?"

"Lunch sounds good," Mion said, "What did you have in mind?"

"There was a place, I can't remember the name of it, but I know how to get there. They do have a good variety, as far as I know. Japanese cuisine isn't exactly my forte, though." Mion agreed, and they went off on their way.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Mion apologized, "Oba-chan can be a real pain sometimes."

"So that was her grandmother, eh?" Dan thought. "Don't worry about it," he said, "I've dealt with worse treatment than that before." Mion gave him a half smile, though the rest of her facial expression conveyed a semblance of curiosity. Dan picked up on it, and chuckled, "Oh, you don't want to hear about my boring life experiences."

"You shouldn't cut yourself down like that, you know?" Mion said, her half smile fading slightly. "I really would like to hear more about you. The only thing I really know about you is that you came over here from Florida. Why here?"

"Talk about déjà vu," Dan reflected, since it was technically only three or four days prior to when he recounted it all last. Despite the fact that it was in the not so distant past, it felt like years. Telling Mion that his life was boring was the exact attitude he had towards his past – it was better left where it was, and that was behind him. Understanding it was best to learn from the past than being destined to relive it, didn't make it any more tolerable to recount. There were things there that he had let time cause to grow fainter, others, now as he was prompted to summarize them, regrettably had also taken that route. Struggling for the right way to put it, they spent the following twenty minutes discussing his reasoning for leaving his home, and starting over here in Hinamizawa. Mion especially enjoyed the part where he had to intervene and protect Oishi, which Dan found oddly interesting. Deciding it still best to leave out the details about Leonard, and the time loop they were both locked in, he told her everything else. By that time, they had arrived at the restaurant.

"I know this place," Mion said, "Isn't it a bit expensive?"

"Nah, I don't think so," Dan shrugged, getting the door for her. The host greeted them, and showed them to their seats. They both ordered something from the menu, and waited for it to arrive. Wanting to keep the conversation going, Dan started it back up again. "That about covers my life, what about you?" Mion hesitated to respond, apparently contemplating how to answer Dan. Picking up on this, Dan shrugged, and said, "If you don't really want to talk about it, that's fine."

"No, that's not it," Mion said, "It's just that, compared to your life, mine does seem boring."

"I doubt that," Dan said. "Everyone has there own experiences, hopes and dreams unique only to themselves. No matter what it is, you should be proud of who you are, and of what makes you you. You decide whether those experiences make you, or break you."

"Well listen to you, Mr. 'you don't want to hear my boring experiences.' You should take those words to heart yourself!"

"Touché," Dan conceded.

"But you're right," Mion said, "We are our own worst critics, and when we look backwards, we see our faults glaring and gloating at us, don't we?" Dan simply nodded, and smiled.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Mion thanked him, and began explaining her life to Dan.

"My life's rather structured, and there are a lot of expectations I need to live up to."

"How so?"

"The Sonozaki family is one of the more prominent families of this community. As of now, the leader is my oba-chan." Dan forced himself not to react adversely at the mention of her name. "Like I told you before, she can be a real pain sometimes, but when there's a point that needs addressing, she gets right down to business, so there's no confusion on where she stands.

"Eventually, I'm going to take her place, and there's a certain lifestyle they all try to impose upon me. I understand the reasoning for it all, but it can be overwhelming at times. You understand, right?"

"Of course," Dan said. "Maybe not at the exact same level of lifestyle adherence, but my parents certainly expected me to grow up properly. I just had to learn the hard way, I guess..."

"We all do at times, don't we?"

"Quite."

"I just don't feel quite ready to conform, and become just like them."

"You don't have to be exactly like them, ya'know?"

"What?"

"I mean, sure, there are some things that can't be overlooked, but there's no need to become so stiff and rigid. It's your life, so live it your way! If they don't like it, the can just deal with it!" Mion looked at Dan like he was crazy, half-tempted to respond, 'Have you lost your mind? There's no way I could do that!' but at the same time, she understood exactly the point he was driving at, even though he hadn't put it as eloquently as his previous comments. Instead of telling him off, she started laughing. Now Dan looked confused, thinking "That wasn't intended to be a joke, I was being serious!"

"That's the Dan I know and love," she said, still laughing. "I appreciate your thoughtfulness; I'll remember that advice."

"No problem," Dan said, "What are friends for, eh?"

Their server came back, and brought their meals. They enjoyed some additional small talk, and finished their meals in a reasonable amount of time. Dan caught the tab for the meal, and they went on their way to the movie. On the way to the theater, Dan saw a strange looking man, that looked vaguely familiar, but he just couldn't place where he had seen him before. Putting it off as circumstance, he gave no more thought to it.

The movie itself was interesting, and comedic, as was what happened during the movie. There were many action filled parts, in which Mion got so excited, she accidentally popped Dan in the face. Each time, she would try to apologize, but another scene would come up, and it would happen again. At the end of the movie, Dan had purchased an ice cold can of soda, and was holding it up to his face. They were walking back to Mion's down a dirt road.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am," Mion ranted, not convinced that Dan wasn't irritated about the whole thing.

"Really, you shouldn't worry about it. It's not like it was intentional. Besides, I'm not doing this because it hurts. I just don't want it to swell up, ya'know?"

"That doesn't help," Mion moaned.

"Look, if you can't laugh at your mistakes, what can you laugh at? It really isn't a big deal! It's not as if –"

Dan cut himself short, feeling that something was very wrong. Mion looked puzzled, and was about to question Dan's sudden mood change, but the situation came to speak for itself. Around ten to fifteen men had surrounded them within seconds. All were equipped with knives, menacing looks, and bad attitudes. Dan performed a quick scan on the crowd, and immediately recognized the man he had seen in town.

"How do you reckon they found us?" Leonard asked.

"The only reason that comes to mind is that we've been with Rika and Satoko," Dan answered, knowing that only he, Rika, and Leonard remembered the past Hinamizawa experiences.

"I really hate these pricks," Leonard growled, though Dan could feel his mirthful expression on the inside.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Leonard answered with a sickening laugh of delight. "Just don't make a mess, Mion's here."

"Whatever you say, it's just 'self-defense'." Mion had latched onto Dan's arm while he was conversing with Leonard.

"What's going on?" she asked, fear quavering in her voice. Leonard looked at Mion, and smiled kindly.

"Don't worry," he said, then turned his attention to the men, and smiled devilishly. His eyes burned crimson, which startled the men, and those immediately in front of him backed away slightly. In a very calm, but ominous tone, Leonard said, "If any of you know what's good for you, you'll get the hell out of my sight." The men all looked at each other, then Dan, and Mion, and began laughing hysterically, feeling confident that they had the upper-hand. Mion took another look at Dan, and saw that his countenance had changed considerably, unable to tell that it was really Leonard, but was smart enough to notice it wasn't the same Dan she was dealing with before. He frowned, and gave them all a cutting stare, and began emitting an extremely ominous aura. Turning to Mion, he whispered, "Don't let go." Returning his attention the men, he said in the exact same tone of voice as before, "I'll give you to the count of three to leave, or else."

"Or else what?" Dan didn't answer, but began counting.

"One."

The men held their ground, though unsure of what was going to happen.

"Two."

Still unwilling to move, some of their knees began shaking. Those that still had their nerve gave each other a look, mentally telling everyone to jump him on three. As the word escaped his lips, he and Mion vanished from sight, leaving an echo of the word 'three' in their ears.

"What the-?"

Dan appeared directly behind one of the men, and whispered, "You had your chance." The man tried to turn and face Dan, but Dan was too quick. Holding Mion in one arm, he threw their combined weight into a fist palm attack, applied directly to the man's abdomen, sending him flying into about three of his comrades. The others, barely catching on to what was happening, attempted to regroup, and charge him. Dan pulled Mion in close, leapt into a flashkick, which sent another portion of the men reeling backwards. Before landing, he performed a split kick, adding a 360degree horizontal twist to clear the area immediately around himself and Mion.

Setting her down, she completely collapsed, her mind still trying to catch up to Dan's movements. He pulled out his bowie knife, spun it, and re-grasped it so it was flush against his forearm, and glared wickedly at those still standing, which was three. Pride still clutching their hearts, the men again rushed him. Gladly obliging their idiocy, he let them get close enough to allow their confidence to reach climax, then quickly gave a wide slash, cutting them all lightly across the chest, but not deep enough to cause major damage.

Shocking them for just long enough to hinder their advance, he gave the center one a brutal uppercut, knocking him out instantly. The other two he grabbed by their collars, and began spinning rapidly like a windmill, each of them at full screaming like frightened children. After reaching a ridiculous speed, he let each go, sending them flying into the air, and vanishing from sight like shooting stars. The others, just now coming back around, looked up at Dan, and nearly wet themselves, seeing Dan's rape face in full effect. No longer requiring any instructions, they scrambled to their feet, and ran as fast as their legs would carry them.

Leonard laughed, and said, "That was disappointing."

"I was thinking obnoxious," Dan groaned. "What the hell is wrong with these people?"

"I don't know," Leonard mused, "Maybe next time we should take one of them next time, and interrogate them."

"Aren't we forgetting something?" Dan asked, watching the last of the men vanish into the distance.

"Yeah, dumbass, you're forgetting your girlfriend."

"Ah, shit!" Dan moaned, turning around to see an utterly dazed Mion, still in a collapsed position. He rushed to her side, and tried to get her attention somehow; he waved his hand in front of her face rapidly, said her name a few times, and finally began shaking her back and forth.

"Huh…what?" Mion muttered, as her vision came back into focus.

"Hey, are you okay?" Once it dawned on Mion that she was no longer in harms way, tears welled up in her eyes, and she sprang upon Dan, crying and hugging him.

"I was so scared!" she bawled, unable to keep up her tom-boyish facade. Dan was caught off guard, and rather unsure what to do in this situation. He had never been the consoling type growing up, not that he didn't want to be, it was just that he hadn't been taught how. His previous friends definitely weren't humble or sensitive, it was more of a dog-eat-dog environment. Deciding it best to do what he felt was right, he simply apologized, and held her until she stopped crying.

"I certainly have a lot to learn," Dan thought, wondering what he was going to do now. It was still unclear why the men were provoked earlier, and it was now even more so. Aggravating as it was that this mysterious band of soldiers was targeting a young girl, but now they were dragging his friends into it, for the fact that he was trying to protect them. That, to Dan, was unforgivable. "As soon as I find this asshole, they're going down hard. No exceptions."

"Dan, are you crying?"

"Huh, what? Uh, no...not really."

"It's okay to cry sometimes, you know? It doesn't mean that you're not strong."

"It's not that," Dan murmured, "It's the fact that I let something like that happen." Mion gave him a puzzled look, and shook her head.

"What do you mean you let it happen? There's no way that could have been your fault! Besides, it could have been much worse! If you weren't here, I can only imagine what would have happened!"

"That's not what I meant either," Dan groaned, grasping for the right words to say.

"Then what do you mean?"

"It's too painful to lose friends, especially now that I've met all of you." Mion flushed scarlet, amazed at how serious Dan was about his feelings, and the fact that he had a sensitive side he was willing to show her. She smiled, and patted his head.

"You don't have to worry anymore, we're both safe."

"For how long, I wonder?" Dan thought. He forced a smile, and quickly dried his eyes. "Well, it is getting rather late, isn't it? We should get going. Your parents might –"

"Oh no!" Mion shouted, killing Dan's eardrums. "We can't tell them about this at all!"

"What?"

"It was hard enough convincing them to let me go out with you this once, there's no way they'd let me see you again if they knew the trouble we were in!"

"Are they that obstinate?" Dan asked.

"You have no idea."

"Oh goodie," Dan moaned.

"That's not the worst part."

"What's worse than that?"

"They insisted that I bring you home, so they could meet you, and 'get to know you better.'" Dan felt a chill run down his spine, as he remembered his earlier 'conversation' with Mion's grandmother.

"Oi vey..."

"We're home," Mion called, Dan following close behind her.

"You're late," a low, commanding voice shot across the house. Mion and Dan both shuddered, though Dan was more worried. "Come here." Obediently, both of them entered the room from which Mion's father's voice was emanating from. Upon rounding the corner, they found both her father and her mother, sitting at a table. Mion's mother was smiling slightly, but her father was scowling; it felt as if his eyes were burning holes into both of their stomachs. There was another individual sitting at the table, considerably shorter, and just as irritable as was Mr. Sonozaki. She was hunched over, and had hollow, dead looking eyes that sent chills down Dan's spine. Her expression was vacant, but Dan could tell that she loathed him.

"That must be the grandmother," Dan groaned internally.

"Very observant, Dan," Leonard said, mocking Dan.

"Sit." They both did, trying not to let fear come across their faces. "Now, what was so important that you couldn't come right back?"

"That was my fault sir," Dan apologized. Mion looked rather surprised that Dan was taking the fall for the both of them. Mr. Sonozaki didn't seem to be as impressed as Mion, and shifted his whole focus to Dan.

"Explain."

"I hurt my face earlier today, so I went to the store and got some pain medication, and a cold soda to put on my face to keep the swelling down."

"How did you hurt your face?"

"One of the guests in the theater really enjoyed the movie, and got a little too involved with it." Mion looked a little flustered that Dan had brought that up again, but it quickly vanished when her father's face cracked with a smile. He then began laughing, which caught both Mion's mother and grandmother off guard. "What the hell?" Dan thought, trying not to scowl.

"That's a good one!" he bellowed, to which everyone shuddered as they felt a tinge of despair. "I bet it was a girl, no less!" The room's atmosphere fell further towards the dark side. Mion and Dan both flushed, both thinking that it wasn't as funny as he was making it out to be. Fortunately, Mion's mother was more observant than her husband, and she swiftly elbowed him in the gut. His laughter stopped abruptly, and he regained his composure. "Akane…" he groaned under his breath.

"This is awkward," Dan grumbled internally.

"You'll have to excuse my husband; he is a little overprotective of his daughter. Not to mention his odd sense of humor."

"Don't worry about it," Dan said, smiling despite his confusion on how to feel about the situation as a whole. "I found the situation humorous as well, looking back at it now." Dan added mentally, "Just not that funny."

"That's good to hear," Akane said. "Being able to laugh at one's mistakes takes great courage," she said, giving Mion a quick glance.

"Talk about déjà vu," Dan thought.

"Did the rest of your day run smoothly?" Akane asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Dan said, thinking about their encounter not too long ago. He felt justified in his answer, since stranger and more life-threatening events had taken place in his life than a group of thugs.

"Excellent," Akane stated, "I would hate to find out that something, unfortunate, happened to my daughter. You can understand a parent's concern, can't you?" Dan was ready to respond, but when he saw the three of them, they all had a frighteningly dark aura surrounding them. Each wore a sinister smile, much darker than Dan had ever seen before, and it felt as if they were examining his soul, and contemplating whether or not to destroy him. Desperately believing that his eyes were just deceiving him, he rubbed his eyes fiercely. When he opened them again, their regular countenances had returned, though the grandmother's wasn't as noticeable.

"There's no way in hell that was just my imagination," Dan contemplated.

"Now, it has been a while since either of you ate last, right?" Akane asked. "We'd love to have you stay for dinner."

"I don't want to impose," Dan protested.

"I insist that you stay," Akane said, smiling, though her aura shouted contrary to her facial expression.

"All right then, I'm game."

"Okay, let's get to it!" Mr. Sonozaki shouted, pulling out a couple of butcher knives from thin air. Dan took one look at him, and fainted without making a sound. Mion glared at her father angrily, amazed at how stupid he was. Akane and the grandmother simply laughed; Mion grabbed Dan by the scruff of his collar, and dragged him to the washroom to splash some water on his face.

The remainder of the evening was surprisingly uneventful, though Dan kept his guard up for anymore unusual antics from anyone, Mr. Sonozaki in particular. It passed as any other meal would, with the exception of Mion's grandmother remaining ornery as a Billy-goat. Dan avoided speaking with her due to their earlier conversation at the gate.

Before Dan took off, Mr. Sonozaki stopped him at the front door for a quick chat.

"Dan, do you have a minute?" he asked, trying to look a bit friendlier.

"Sure," Dan answered, as he turned to face him.

"I would like to apologize for my earlier comments and behavior. I realize that it might have come across as too harsh. You can understand a parent's concern, can't you?"

"More or less," Dan shrugged. "I can't say I know exactly, but I can understand where you're coming from." Mr. Sonozaki smiled, and put his arm around Dan's shoulder.

"I'm happy to hear you say that."

"I do have a question for you," Dan started. Still smiling, he nodded for Dan to continue. "Why does Mion's grandmother seem to be so foul tempered? She never said a word to me, and it felt like she was shooting daggers into my stomach." Mr. Sonozaki's expression became noticeably more somber, and he shook his head.

"It's because your not originally from here. Her family is built strongly on tradition, and they prefer to marry insiders only." Dan frowned, and nodded.

"I see," he groaned.

"I can understand how you feel in that regard," Mr. Sonozaki said. "She doesn't care much for me, either." Dan looked surprised, so he continued. "I'm not from around here either, so we do share that much in common. It is an old tradition, and I can see the purpose behind it. I just don't care for it as much as she does. When I met Akane, I knew that she was the one for me, whether she knew it at the time or not, it didn't matter."

"That sounds very romantic, I'm glad it worked out for you."

"Thank you."

"I should be thanking you for giving me a chance to go out with your daughter," Dan said smiling.

"That's not a problem, I'm glad that you took an interest in her." Mr. Sonozaki's facial expression changed to a more serious one. "I will tell you this, though. If you break my daughters' heart I'll break your neck."

"..."

"It looks like we understand each other, then. Have a good night." With that, Mr. Sonozaki walked back in the house, leaving Dan thoroughly shaken. He shuddered as he went to the gate, the words still ringing freshly in his ears. It was creepy how he could be so kind one minute, and make a comment like that like it was nothing. Upon reflecting further, he remembered that he had done the same thing before when the soldiers had threatened Keiichi's life. Though, in Dan's mind, his actions were justified because of the situation, since lives were at stake. Whatever Mr. Sonozaki's reason, it was sure that he felt justified, though from Dan's perspective, he couldn't quite see the justification. Before he could leave altogether, he heard the door open, and close quietly. Instantly freezing in place, he waited to hear who it was before taking another step.

"Dan, do you have a minute?" Dan's nervousness faded once he realize it was Mion, and he turned around to face her.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Dan thought for a moment, trying to remember if there was anything of importance happening, but nothing would come to him.

"I can't think of anything in particular." Mion fidgeted for a moment, then blurted,

"I know we just went out today, but would you like to come with me to the Watanagashi festival?"

"Oh yeah! I can't believe I forgot about that," Dan said. "Sure, if you don't mind putting up with me for another day, that is."

"Not at all!" Mion said, beaming. "I'll meet you over at Rika and Satoko's then."

"Sounds good," Dan said, putting his hand out for a handshake. Mion stared at Dan for a moment, wondering what was wrong with him. Pushing his hand aside, she gave him a hug, and a quick peck on the cheek. Dan was stunned, but he exercised all his will power in an effort not to let it show on his face. He returned the hug, but didn't feel quite ready to give her a kiss back. Mion pulled away slowly, and saw how crimson Dan's face was, and laughed.

"What?"

"It's nothing," she said, still smiling. "Good night!" Dan watched here dash back into the house, and made sure she was out of earshot.

"Girls are weird..."

Dan arrived home nearly thirty minutes later, feeling his cheek, and pinching himself in the leg to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. Aside from the fight, he felt that the day had gone rather well. He still felt like a fish out of water when it came to dealing with girls on a personal level, but he kept reassuring himself that he was getting better.

"I'm home," Dan said. No one answered him, but he didn't think much of it, after realizing how late it was. Just to make sure, he quickly and quietly walked through the house. Upon finding them both in bed fast asleep, he walked back to the kitchen, and found his evening meal wrapped up in the fridge. There was a note attached to the plate, which he removed, and read.

"Dan,

We hope you had a good time today.

You can either save this for later, or when you get home.

Let us know how it went!

Rika & Satoko"

Dan smiled warmly, folded the note, and placed it in his chest pocket. Now that the day was over, he felt relieved, and began cleaning a bit to finish unwinding. There wasn't much to do, though, since both Rika and Satoko had decided to give Dan a bit of a break because of his plans for the day.

Once that was done, he put out all the lights, and headed to his room. For the next two hours, Dan spent his time watching for any sort of suspicious activity. After confirming that there was nothing outside, at least, no one he could see, he turned in for the night.

Morning came quickly, though not as unwelcome as Dan had normally viewed it. Figuring that most of their meals that day would come from the festival, he prepared a light breakfast. Both of the girls came down, honestly surprised that Dan was up and ready to go for the day.

"Wow Dan, what's the occasion?" Satoko asked, this time genuinely curious.

"I just had a really good day yesterday," Dan said, smiling while trying not to appear too embarrassed. Both of them chuckled, and sat down at the table.

"It went that well, did it?" Rika asked.

"I believe so," Dan answered, wondering if Rika was hinting at any undesirable activity. When she gave him a silent approval, he added, "Nothing out of the ordinary happened."

"Nipah!"

"Oh yeah, I've got to say, thanks for the letter, you two. I really appreciated it."

"No problem," the two of them answered in unison. Everyone looked at each other, and laughed. Dan brought the meal over to the table, and they spent the next hour going over what each of them had done the previous day. For the time being, Dan left out their encounter with the soldiers, as he and Mion had agreed to. Dan was quite relieved to no received any news regarding any of the soldiers poking around, or making themselves known to either of them. The fact remained, however, that they were out there, and were watching them closely; that was aggravating, to say the least. While it was a top priority in Dan's mind, he knew that they, namely Rika and himself, couldn't let Satoko know about it.

Once breakfast was finished, Dan cleaned up, and began tending to the other morning chores. Rika and Satoko both decided to help him out, apparently feeling either bored, or sympathetic towards Dan, since he had been taking all of it on by himself recently. By the time they finished with everything, Mion had arrived, and knocked on the door. Dan went to answer it, while the girls sat down and relaxed with a cold glass of lemonade.

"Hey, how are ya?" Dan asked, after seeing who it was.

"Wow Dan, you must really like women's clothing ever since that day, huh? Going for the Mr. Mom look?"

"What are you –" Dan asked, flustered and confused.

"Your apron," Mion said, tugging at it playfully.

"Ayy…Come on, now," Dan groaned, "Aprons are a gender neutral item, ya'know?"

"Is that so? How many other men have you seen wearing an apron, especially one like that?" After taking a closer look at it, and realizing there were ruffles and bunnies on it, he couldn't argue much with her point.

"I just didn't think to go out and buy one of my own. Besides, it wasn't like I volunteered to wear that skirt." Mion laughed, and blushed again, remembering that it was one of her skirts she had lent him. "Don't need people thinking I'm stranger than they already do," Dan thought to himself. "Maybe it's a bit too late for that…" Dan stepped aside, and allowed Mion to enter.

"Anyway, are you ready to head to the festival?"

"I sure am. I'll go get Rika and Satoko, and we'll head out, eh?" Mion nodded, and took a seat.

"Don't forget to take that apron off!"

"I know…"

Roughly thirty minutes later, they arrived at the Furude shrine, which had received a complete overhaul. Streamers and banners stretched throughout the entire area, along with a large amount of booths. The scent of many typical festival foods saturated the air, nearly sending Dan over the edge into a drooling frenzy. Upon further observation, there was also an impressive amount of gaming booths, which annoyed Dan more than it impressed him. It wasn't anything personal; rather, it was the fact that he knew many of those types of games were rigged, for obvious reasons.

"Man, where should we start?"

"I'm fine with anything," Mion said, clinging to Dan's arm. Rika began tugging on his other sleeve.

"Dan, I forgot my money at home!" Dan looked at her administering the puppy-dog eye effect in full force. His gaze switched to Satoko, who was apparently in the same boat as Rika. Unable to resist, he pulled out around five thousand yen, and handed half to each of them.

"Is that enough?" Both of them looked quite surprised, and nodded. Then both of them gave Dan a hug, brightly beaming.

"Look at you, Mr. Generosity," Mion said, smiling.

"It's no big deal, ya'know? The festival only rolls around once a year."

"That's true," Mion agreed.

"Now here's something you don't see every day," a familiar voice said. Everyone turned to look to the source of the voice, and saw Keiichi and Rena standing a few feet away. Rena had a strange look on her face, one that every one of them knew all too well. "Don't you all look like a happy little family? What do you think –"

"Hauu…"

"Uh oh," Dan thought, his facial expression dropping like a rock.

"I'm going to take them all home!" she shouted as she rushed them all, lifted them effortlessly, and began running away.

"Holy crap, I had no idea she was so strong!" Dan thought.

"Wait Rena," Keiichi hollered, trying to catch her before she got too far away, "We came to enjoy the festival together, right?" Rena stopped suddenly, and pouted for a moment.

"Hauu hauu…"

"Now put them down." Rena obeyed, but she did so reluctantly. After everyone had regained their composure, Mion was blushing, but everyone else seemed okay.

"Kei-chan, do you really think that?" Keiichi looked confused, unsure to what she was referring to.

"Do I really think what?"

"You know, what you said earlier?" Mion prodded, trying not to act too obvious about what she was hinting at. Eventually it dawned on him.

"Oh, you mean –"

"Yes, that!"

"Well, yeah, of course I did." Mion shortly fantasized about that scenario, trying to imagine Dan coming home in a suit and tie after a long day at the office, and a few of their children running around the house. Her head nearly exploded thinking about it, and she was torn between laughing about Dan's appearance and blushing scarlet over the thought of being a mom. Her reaction came out as a high pitch squeak, to which everyone returned a confused, but slightly amused look; eventually, everyone broke out into laughter, though they were all unsure as to why.

"Anyway," Dan said, once they had all calmed down, "We're burning daylight here; let's get this show on the road, eh?" They all agreed, and started hitting up every booth they could.

The day flew by rather quickly once they really got into it. All the attractions they visited, along with the environment allowed for everyone to forget their cares, even if it was only for a few hours. Dan's attention kept fading in and out, as he tried to shift his attention to find any suspicious people, but eventually he just gave up, and allowed himself to let go. It all felt like a dream that he never wanted to wake up from, and as long has he possessed the power to prevent it being torn away, he would never let it go.

When evening rolled around, Rika had to excuse herself to go participate in the ceremonial performance. Satoko decided to take off, and get a bit more to eat, leaving the other four to themselves. Dan decided he'd be the first to break the ice.

"So, what's new, Keiichi? Last time I saw you, I believe you were wearing a bunny girl outfit." Keiichi didn't seem to appreciate that comment, and grimaced a bit.

"I had almost completely forgotten about that, 'experience.'" Dan tried to recover from that comment by adding,

"Well hey, at least they didn't take pictures, right?" Judging by Keiichi's reaction, he knew that he had another strike on his account. "Hey, dude, I didn't know, seriously. It could have been worse, ya'know?"

"How could that experience be any worse? The whole town saw us running around! On top of that, the police took us all home after giving us a warning!"

"What the hell? That really sucks…"

"You're telling me!" Keiichi moaned, shaking his head in despair.

"I still say that it could have been worse. I mean, it was just a joke, right? You name me one person that hasn't done something stupid in their whole life."

"Dan-kun's got a point," Mion and Rena said, both nodding.

"Well, I am speaking to the king of catastrophe, right?" Keiichi asked, his mood having improved mildly.

"I can't deny it," Dan said, forcing a smile. "Damn, he just had to get a counter-punch snuck in there, didn't he?" he thought.

"He was stuck in a skirt for nearly the whole day, and people saw him walking around in that, too, right?" Rena added.

"That's true," Keiichi said, smiling widely now.

"Now isn't this a nice scene?" a female voice said, one that caught everyone off-guard.

"I'd have to agree with that," another voice said, male this time. They all turned to see who it was, and no one seemed to recognize either of them. The man was wearing a dark green tank top, dog tags, glasses, and a black ball cap. He had medium brown hair, and was also carrying with him a camera. The woman was wearing a green jacket, a white shirt, and matching green pants. Her hair was blonde, and she was smiling, apparently having heard some of the conversation that had just taken place.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met each other before; you are…?" Dan said, trying not to come across as rude.

"My apologies," the woman said, "I'm Miyo Takano, and this is Jiro Tomitake."

"Oh yeah," Rena said, "I've seen Tomitake around town before. He usually shows up once a year to take pictures of the town. I don't really know why, since nothing much ever happens here."

"I just enjoy the relaxing scenery, that's all," Tomitake explained.

"Do you have any of your work with you?" Dan asked, "I you don't mind, I'd love to take a look." Tomitake looked a bit surprised, but nodded nonetheless.

"Not at all," he said. "How about tomorrow, at the clinic, is that alright?"

"That sounds good to me.

"I didn't know that you enjoyed that kind of hobby," Mion said, curious as to why Dan was expressing that interest.

"I've always been interested; I just haven't had much time to devote to it. There's that, and I haven't gotten around to purchasing a new camera. But, that's another story."

"I take it, then, you're not from around here," Takano asked.

"No, I'm from the states." Takano smiled, a small spark of interest came into her eyes.

"I'm impressed by your grasp on the language."

"I'm a quick learner, I guess." Dan thought about it for a moment, "Though, I don't exactly show it all the time," he thought.

"How do you like it here so far?"

"I honestly can't complain," he said, "The people here are friendly, and it seems like a nice place to settle down." Takano, while still smiling, Dan could feel the air about her begin to change. It made him slightly uncomfortable, but he felt inclined t listen.

"Have you heard about the legend of Oyashiro-sama?" Dan's face fell into a look of both boredom and annoyance.

"Not this shit again…" Dan groaned inwardly. Instead of returning an equally annoyed response, it seemed to motivate Takano all the more.

"I wonder who it's going to be this year," she mused.

"What do you mean?" Keiichi asked, looking a touch unnerved.

"Didn't you know? Every year, the day after the Watanagashi festival, one person goes missing, while the other ends up dead."

"I thought that was just a legend," Keiichi whimpered. "How long has this been going on?"

"This will be the fifth year," Takano said, still smiling widely. Dan was getting angrier by the second, as each word fell from her mouth. Mion could see how it was affecting him, and squeezed his arm, attempting to pull his focus away from Takano. It seemed to work, because Dan's facial expression shifted back to normal after seeing how concerned Mion seemed to be.

"What's the matter, Dan?" Mion asked.

"I don't buy this 'legend' mumbo-jumbo for a second." Everyone's eyes turned toward Dan. Takano's mood had changed as well, and the surrounding atmosphere seemed to decay.

"You don't believe it?" she asked, the venom penetrating through Dan's defenses.

"No, I don't believe it. The whole idea looks like it's full of holes."

"Do you have any evidence to support that theory?"

"Not any physical evidence, no –"

"Then how do you know it isn't real?" she spat.

"Damn woman, calm down. It's not like I'm accusing you of anything!" Takano took a step back, realizing how foolish she was acting. "But you've got to wonder why, after however long this 'legend' has laid dormant, and from seemingly nowhere, it starts happening again? The whole thing seems awfully fishy to me. It's like –"

Dan stopped as Takano slugged him full in the face. Everyone gasped, including Tomitake, who seemed the most surprised at Takano's burst of rage. Dan, however, hadn't flinched or moved an inch, despite being hit so hard; he was simply frowning. Nobody said a word for several seconds. Once again, Dan broke the ice, but did so in a chilling voice.

"I've made it a point not to hurt women, but you're pushing it." Tomitake stepped in, and placed his hands on Takano's shoulders, which helped to calm her back down again.

"I'm really sorry about this," he said. "I think we should be going now." After the two of them had properly excused themselves, and were out of sight, Dan started rubbing his face.

"Damn, she's got a good punch," he groaned.

"Are you okay?" Keiichi asked.

"It's not the worst thing that I've had to deal with," Dan said, shrugging it off. "I wonder why she got so bent out of shape. I mean, she brought up the topic in the first place. She gave her opinion, and I gave mine."

"It is a pretty sore topic around this time of year, though," Mion said, "Though I don't approve of her reaction over it at all."

"I understand that it's not a cheerful topic, but that's part of the reason I feel the way I do about it."

"What do you mean?" Rena asked.

"I'm not demeaning the fact that people have dies, and very well might keep dying. Dismissing it all to a curse seems childish, as far as I see it. There's that, and I don't feel like backing down from my original argument; how does something like this just start happening again after years of inactivity? Someone's hiding something, if you ask me, and after that little display…"

"You don't think she's got something to do with it?" Rena asked, looking more concerned. Dan shrugged, and shook his head.

"I doubt that slugging me in the face is enough of a reason to condemn her, but it does make me curious, nonetheless." Everyone's mood showed signs of decline, each apparently frustrated with the current situation. Dan looked through the crowd, and saw Satoko coming back toward them. Dan tried to change the mood before she reached them. "Hey now, let's just forget about this, eh? At least for now, okay? We did come here to enjoy ourselves, right?" While not appearing altogether convincing, they all seemed to agree, and put on a happy face.

"Geh, I hate Mondays," Dan moaned, the lack of sleep from Saturday night finally having caught up to him. Classes had finished for the day, and everyone had just sat down to begin their club activities. Mion was clinging to Dan's arm, while the others were had already grown used to seeing them that way, so they didn't make any additional comments.

"What's wrong with Monday's?" Keiichi asked.

"Going back to work, or in this case school, after having such a pleasant day just sucks, that's all. Thought, I must say, the day could have been worse."

"How so?"

"Chie-sensei could have given us all a pop quiz, or a boat ton of homework!"

"That's true," Mion said. There was a knock at the classroom door, and Keiichi got up to answer it. Standing in the doorway was Oishi, forcing a smile.

"Dan-kun, do you have a moment?" Dan grimaced at the sound of that, and nearly vomited.

"I never want to hear a man address me that way," he thought. Groaning, he got up, and excused himself from the room. Everyone wondered why Oishi wanted to talk to Dan, with the exception of Rika, but she feigned surprise nonetheless.

"That was unexpected," Mion said, pouting.

"I'm not sure how long they're going to be," Keiichi said, "So I think I'm going to start!"

"Hey! That's not fair, hauu~"

Meanwhile, Dan and Oishi had sat down in Oishi's car, and had cut through all the pleasantries.

"Well, I don't mean to be rude, but I know this isn't a social call," Dan said flatly. Oishi nodded, and frowned, then handed him a few pictures. Dan looked at them slowly, and grimaced strongly at the pictures of Tomitake gouging his own throat out. Dan handed them back as if they were radioactive, and took a moment to clear his head. "Quite the glamour shots you've got there." Oishi tried not to laugh, and sobered right up.

"That's not exactly what I was thinking, but they are an interesting sight, aren't they?"

"Interesting indeed; when did this happen?"

"It was around ten or eleven last night. When was the last time you saw them?" Oishi asked.

"I'd say about seven. It was right before the festival's show."

"Did you talk about anything?"

"Yeah, Takano brought up the legend of Oyashiro-sama, and I told her what I thought of it." Oishi looked at Dan, and nodded for him to continue. "I told her that I thought it was a bunch of crap, and it was a waste of time."

"What did she think of that?"

"She punched me in the face." Oishi could hold back, and let out a few hearty laughs before getting himself back under control. "Glad to see you think that's funny," Dan groaned.

"It's not, but…"

"Yeah, whatever," Dan thought.

"Well, you didn't retaliate, did you?"

"No, but you don't know how badly I would have liked to tell her off. She sputters her little horror story, and I just gave my opinion on it. I hardly think that's grounds for slugging me."

"I couldn't agree more. Takano has always been a little unusual, but I've never known her to hurt anyone."

"Is that so? I wonder why she would react so strongly to a rumor."

"My thoughts exactly," Oishi said.

"Damn," Dan thought, "There goes my theory on her being a perpetrator. I wonder what Hanyuu found out about that. Though, I'm not really sure how to get a hold of her; it's not like I can just give her a phone call…"

"You okay in there?"" Oishi asked, noticing that Dan was spacing out.

"Yeah, it's all good," Dan sputtered, not altogether convincingly. "Any-who, that's about all that I know about those two. I only just met the two of them yesterday. In fact, I was planning on going over to visit Tomitake at the clinic."

"Why's that?"

"He told me he likes scenic photography, and I told him that I enjoyed it as well. He was going to show me some of his work." Oishi eyed him suspiciously. "Yes, I do like scenic art; I've already gotten the flack from the others about it, I don't need any more, thank you."

"I guess you can't judge a book by its cover," Oishi said, smiling. Dan nodded, and seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"Hey, I have a favor to ask you," Dan said. "I know it's not typically accepted to show a civilian those, other than immediate family, the deceased. I'd like to take a look at Takano's remains."

"Is there a specific reason you'd like to take a look?" Oishi asked.

"No special reason, I'd just like to see it for myself."

"I don't know…" Oishi said.

"Hey, you owe me for the other day still, ya'know?" Oishi was about to ask what he was talking about, but quickly remembered the incident he was referring to.

"I was hoping you were going to let that go," He groaned.

"I was going to, but you were being hesitant," Dan countered.

"Alright, but just this once, mind you. You should probably tell your friends you won't be back for a couple of hours, at least." Dan nodded, and quickly ran back inside, and told everyone that he was heading down to the station to take a look at a few things. After assuring them that nothing was wrong, he got back in the car with Oishi, and headed down there. ON the way down, Dan saw one of the men he had killed before the time reset, driving down the street. Instantly, he made a mental note of the license plate number, and made plans to look it up when they got to the station. Apart from that incident, the ride down there was relatively boring. Roughly twenty minutes later, they arrived at the station.

"I really appreciate this, Oishi."

"It's not a big deal, so don't worry about it." Oishi grabbed a clipboard, and handed it to Dan. "You're going to need to sign this. It's just a form that explains that you're a visitor, and that I was with you at the time you visited."

"Sounds good," Dan said, quickly signing it. Taking a look around, the few officers that were there all looked incredible busy. "Got your hands full down here, do ya?"

"Don't even get me started," Oishi moaned. "This case has been on my plate for the past five years, and it's the only one I haven't solved in my career."

"That's impressive," Dan said, shocked.

"Thank you," Oishi said. His expression became much more somber, and then he continued. "Of all the cases I've worked on in the past, this one seems the most elusive."

"How do you mean?" Dan asked.

"All of the criminals I've dealt with, each of them have had a reasonably clear motive. Either they wanted something material, or they were trying to prove a point in some sick, convoluted way. I can't seem to figure out which one this fits into. People like this aren't complicated."

"You know," Dan said, "Not everyone can be categorized into neat little bins like that, if you know what I mean."

"I'm not too sure I follow you."

"Some people definitely aren't logical about what they do. They do things for pure amusement, because they've either exhausted all other avenues of ways to entertain themselves, or they've just snapped. To quote a great man, 'Some people just want to watch the world burn.' Ya'know?" Oishi nodded, apparently never thought of that option.

"I guess that's what I'm most afraid of."

"I couldn't agree more."

"Well, let's get this over with. We've got to run by my office really quick." They started walking, and Dan felt a slight tug on his pant leg. He turned to see Hanyuu standing right there.

"Dan, I found something!" the words were reverberating in his head as if he was talking to her, though her mouth didn't move.

"What the heck? How are you talking to me?" Dan thought.

"Just like that," she thought, smiling. "It's called telepathy."

"Whoa," Dan thought, "It's like a sci-fi movie!" Hanyuu laughed, to which Dan returned a confused look.

"What?" he thought.

"Considering everything you've been through, I would think that telepathy wouldn't be as big as a surprise!"

"…"

"Auu auuu?"

"Are you coming Dan? Did you have a rough night last night?"

"What the hell does he mean by "rough night?" Dan thought, almost exploding internally. Hanyuu whimpered a bit, apparently because of Dan's loud thoughts.

"Sorry about that Hanyuu," he thought. "No, I just had a lot on my mind lately, that's all." Oishi just shrugged it off, and began walking again, and Dan followed. "Any-who," Dan thought, "You were saying earlier?" Hanyuu looked at him for a moment, and then remembered.

"Oh yeah, that's right! I was following Takano around yesterday, and I saw her do something really strange."

"What do you mean, strange?"

"Takano walked off into a secret place, and started whispering really low about something; I couldn't tell what they were talking about exactly." Dan's face flushed bright red, and he felt a surge of blood rush to his nose, which he barely held in.

"What the hell?" he whispered. "That's too much information!"

"Huh?" Hanyuu asked, blissfully unaware of what she had accidentally implied.

"Never mind," Dan thought, "did anything else happen after they finished, 'talking?'"

"Takano left, and wandered off to a van, then left. She drove off too quickly, so I couldn't follow her then."

"Whoa, hold on a second!" Dan thought, "You said she drove away? How the hell could she have done that? I'm going to see her 'remains' right now!"

"All I know is that whoever you're going to look at, it isn't her."

"Geh! This is totally awkward, and confusing!"

"Auu?"

"Oishi said that…but how could it…what the hell!" Questions were spinning around Dan's head, such as, "Is she faking her death?" or "Did she die later, and get dragged back to the scene of the crime?"

"How's it going Oishi?" a man asked. Dan snapped back to attention, barely in time not to look like a total goober. "Got a visitor, do you?"

"Yeah, he was rather insistent about looking at our friend, Miyo Takano." The man's face went a little dark.

"Oh, he does, does he?" the man asked, giving Dan a strange look. "Young people these days, the things they find entertaining…"

"I don't find it entertaining, thank you," Dan shot, returning a menacing look. The man jumped a bit, and apologized. "I just want to see for myself that she's dead. Like I've told Oishi and my other friends, I think the "Oyashiro-sama legend" is a load of bullshit."

"How much have you heard about the legend?" Oishi asked.

"I know enough to form an opinion on it. I don't know the situation under which each death took place, except for the alleged guise of this 'legend,' but I know there's something more to it. Like Oishi was telling me, the pieces don't all quite fit as snuggly as they should."

"You sound like a little sleuth already. Have you ever given any thought to pursuing a career with the police?"

"I honestly can't say that I have, but I'm not as good as you're trying to make it sound. I'm just a hot head, but I know when to curb it."

"That's a skill most people don't have, the attitude control, I mean."

"Thank you. Oh, and sorry about shouting just now. Since I know who's involved, as far as victims go, I've been taking this a lot more personally."

"That," the man said, "Is something that you'll have to control if you want to be effective as a policeman. It's understandable, but feelings can cloud your judgment. Don't' forget that." Dan nodded, and gave a half smile. "Now, if you'll come this way," the man said, walking around the corner.

Dan and Oishi followed him, and walked into a small room that looked more like a small emergency room. It smelled strongly of disinfectant, and the lighting was excellent. In the center of the room stood a gurney; a blackened figure positioned on its center, which Dan knew to be fake. That information was based on what Hanyuu had told him just minutes ago. He didn't know how he was going to break it to Oishi and his friend, however. The closer Dan got to the body, the more his stomach revolted at the sights and smells he was taking in. Unaccustomed to the scent of burnt flesh, Dan forced himself not to gag when it hit his nostrils. The woman's body looked like a crudely assembled charcoal model of a human that had been dashed to pieces, and stitched back together. Any defining characteristics had been marred by the flames; Dan wondered how they had even identified the body as female, let alone human.

"Quite a sight isn't she?" the man asked, eying Dan's facial expressions. "I'm impressed though, with your ability to cope with the sight. Regular people can't stand the sight of this kind of thing. Although, I must say, I've seen people in much worse conditions than Takano here."

"I can hardly imagine," Dan choked. "I'm just surprised you can tell that's her. If you hadn't told me, I would have thought you just pulled that out of the fireplace."

"It's funny you should mention that," the man said.

"Why is that funny?" The man looked at Oishi, who nodded, as if to say it was okay to continue.

"What I tell you can't leave this room, because this hasn't been completely proven yet."

"Alright, my lips are sealed."

"I don't think this is actually her." The curious look on Dan's face only encouraged the man's enthusiasm. "From the initial autopsy test results, it appears that she's been dead long before we found her, at least twenty-four hours. We're also currently checking the dental records to verify her identity, but we won't get the results until tomorrow at the earliest."

"Now, what I don't understand," Oishi started, "Assuming this isn't her, of course, why would she fake her death? The only reasons that make sense are either that she is a victim of all of this, and tried to throw her assailants, or –"

"You're making this sound all conspiracy theory freaky, ya'know?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Oishi snapped.

"To be completely honest, I can't think of much else. But why now, all of a sudden, would this mystery villain come after her? The victims don't have any common thread between them. I do apologize for the information rehash, but the more I think about it, the more confused I get."

"I know I already asked you, but how much do you know?" Dan recapitulated what he and Rika had gone over a few nights ago; going over only the common knowledge he assumed Oishi already knew. The two of them looked impressed, if not altogether shocked, at the information he had acquired. "How long have you been here Dan?"

"I came over with you, so somewhere around a month, maybe two."

"Why do you know so much about this?" he asked, bordering on shouting.

"That's what got me in trouble last time, ya'know? If I had paid more attention to the people I'd been hanging around, I wouldn't have had that whole fiasco behind me, now would I? Besides, whoever's behind this doesn't seem too discriminatory on who they target, I don't want to end up dead myself, ya'know?"

"That is true," Oishi admitted.

"Besides, I already told you this is personal to me. It's already affected Rika and Satoko, who knows, they could be targeted as well!"

"Do you have any reasons or evidence to support your theory?" Oishi asked, calming down a bit.

"Apart from this assumption that this isn't Takano, there was that incident I mentioned about Takano getting all worked up about Rika's parents not co-operating with her. From what I understand, there was something she was researching, but she never told anyone what exactly it was. That's what leads me to think she was involved with this in one way or another. Of course," Dan said, cutting back on his serious tone, "This is all just hypothetical, ya'know?"

"Right" Oishi said, somewhat disappointed. "It's all just hypothetical."

"Although," Dan continued, "What if I'm not wrong? What could she be planning from behind the scenes? I wonder, I wonder…" The three of them spent a few moments speculating further on Dan's words, but didn't get too far. "Damn," Dan groaned. He turned to Hanyuu, who had been standing by quietly for some time now, almost dozing off.

"What's wrong? She thought, rubbing her eyes.

"I was just wondering, if you're a spirit, how do you get tired? I thought that required a body?" Hanyuu didn't answer immediately, but her confusion turned to a half-smile.

"I guess I just couldn't break the habit from when I had a body."

"Fair enough."

"I think that's enough excitement for one day," Oishi yawned. "Have you seen enough Dan?" Dan nodded, but kept looking at Hanyuu. "Then, let's get you back home, shall we?"

"Hanyuu, I need a bit of help before we leave, could you humor me for just a bit longer?" Hanyuu nodded, and followed the two of them out. Right before they got to Oishi's office, Dan spoke up again. "Oishi, could we check something out really quick?"

"I suppose so, what is it?"

"I'm pretty sure speeding violations aren't your responsibility, but I saw a shady looking guy on the way here." Oishi started to object, but he decided to go along with it, since Dan had given him some fresh ideas.

"Okay, step inside for a moment." Dan took a seat, and he told Hanyuu to walk behind Oishi's desk, and look at the information on his computer. "What's the license plate number?" Dan told him, and Oishi punched it in, and then waited for the results to come back from the database. Oishi stared at the result for a minute, long enough for Hanyuu to read the address, and tell Dan.

"Thanks," he thought.

"Well, I don't see anything unusual about this guy, but I'll let the officer who patrol's that street know to keep an eye out for him."

"Sounds good to me," Dan said, returning a satisfied look.

"Was there anything else?" Oishi asked.

"I just need to make a pit stop before we leave." Oishi rolled his eyes, as if to say, 'I asked for it, didn't I?'

"That's upstairs, and it'll be the first door on the right."

"Thanks again, I'll be right back."

Stepping out, he thought to Hanyuu, "One last thing I need you to do, please."

"What is it?"

"Can you check to see if there's any bugging equipment?" Hanyuu looked confused, so Dan thought of a few examples and images of what it should look like. When her confusion vanished, she rushed up the stairs ahead of him, and began looking around. Noticing several moments later that Dan wasn't behind her, she thought of where he could be. Then her face went red, and she continued on, trying to forget about it. It only took a minute for her to find some, and let Dan know. He finished up with what he was doing, and followed her a couple doors down to a small room, which actually looked like a large closet. Hanyuu unlocked the door, let Dan in, and he quickly shoved a few items into his backpack. Checking his watch, he made sure that he wasn't taking too long; he hid the empty containers, and left the room when Hanyuu let him know that the coast was clear.

"That went well, didn't it?" Hanyuu asked, relieved that their last task was complete.

"I agree, that was the biggest lucky break I've enjoyed since I got here. There's no way that should have worked."

"You should count your blessings," Hanyuu said, "If you pay more attention, you'll see that your life is full of little 'miracles.'" Dan smiled, and thanked her.

"I just hope our blessings hold out long enough to see this though to the end. There's that, and I hope He can understand me 'borrowing' this stuff. It's going to be awkward returning this equipment if it doesn't."

When Dan returned to Oishi's office, he brought Dan to the front, and told him to wait there. Shortly after leaving him, Oishi pulled the car around front, and honked for Dan. He hurried outside, and got in the car. Their conversation was rather dry on the way back, considering all that had happened. Nothing unusual presented itself to Dan either, though that didn't bother him. The trickier task lay ahead when he got home. When Oishi stopped the car, it took Dan a minute for Dan to realize where they were. Before he could protest, Oishi handed him a thousand yen, and pointed outside.

"You look far too troubled for a boy your age. Why don't you cool your head for a few hours? I heard this place is quite good for doing just that." Knowing it best not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Dan thanked Oishi, and stepped out of the car. Once he was out of sight, Dan walked into the establishment.

"The Angel Mort, eh? Doesn't look too shabby, I guess." Upon stepping inside, Dan's eyes nearly popped out of his head; the blood rush almost made him pass out. All of the waitresses looked like a hybrid between a succubus and a ballerina, each with a dark black and red uniform. Every single one of them were well defined, which made Dan question the judgment he had passed on Oishi up to this point. "I'll never be able to look at him quite the same," he groaned internally.

"Welcome! How many today?" the hostess asked.

"Just one, please."

"Right this way!" she sang, directing him to a window seat. Other than the risqué nature of the women's attire, the restraint looked quite simple, but pleasant at the same time. The hostess handed him a menu, and excused herself, letting Dan know that his server would be with him shortly. Scouring over the menu, he couldn't see anything besides deserts, and coffee.

"Oi vey," he groaned, "I'm not really in the mood for desert. Maybe I'll just get some coffee, and fruit." After stewing over the menu for a few minutes, his server showed up.

"What can I get you today, sir?" she said, in a strangely familiar voice. Only partially paying attention, Dan looked up and answered her.

"I believe I'll have come coffee, and –"

"Dan?"

"What the –" Dan stammered, "What are you doing here? Well, I know you're working, but, I uh…ya'know?"

"Do I know what?" she asked, just as, if not more so, confused as Dan.

"I'm just surprised, of all the places, you chose here to work?"

"Is there something wrong with working here?" she asked.

"No, that's not what I was trying to say, but, I, err…" The young lady began laughing, which only made Dan feel that much more self conscious.

"I think you're confusing me with my sister, Mion."

"Huh?"

"I'm not Mion, I'm Shion," she said, still smiling. Those words nearly made Dan's head explode, because of the meaning behind them. He tried to picture the thought of two Mion's, and went bright red. That only served to make Shion laugh all the more.

"So, hold up a second, why didn't I see you at the house on Saturday? I was there for several hours; were you sick or something?"

"Oh, no, I was fine that day. I just don't live with the rest of my family." Now Dan's head was really spinning.

"So much for 'relaxing,' eh?" Dan thought. "Then, where do you live?"

"In Okinomiya," she answered. When Dan gestured to protest, she cut him off quickly. "But don't worry about it, I like it this way. After all, she is the successor, and there can only be one." She frowned a bit, but tried to hide it from Dan. "Oh, let me get your coffee, and…?"

"Some peach and pineapple slices," Dan finished. She nodded, and hurried off. Dan sat grumbling, and growling while she was gone, upset about the last thing she had said. There was that, and the things he had left to do that day. The traditionalism of the country he lived in now, and the one he came from clashed greatly, as far as the birthright was concerned. Though, the idea was not completely foreign to him. That's the way it was in ancient times, the firstborn male would inherit everything. Back then, it was more of an object lesson to engrain in the minds of those people the importance of their religion, and the responsibilities each had to their God. Nowadays, it didn't make that much sense to him, it seemed more like selective nepotism. Though, he would never openly admit those were his true feelings on the matter.

"Are you alright?" Shion asked, setting Dan's order down, and taking a seat across from him. Dan refrained from jumping, and scattering everything all over the place. "You look really troubled."

"You don't know the half of it," Dan thought.

"Does it bother you that I don't live with my family?"

"I do find it unusual, honestly. Do you two not get along that well?"

"We get along fine, as well as any other set of siblings does."

"Ah shit, that was a stupid question to ask," he mumbled, scratching his head.

"I do appreciate your concern, though. You're as nice as my sister says you are." Dan chuckled bitterly, instantly reminded of all the poor decisions he had ever made in his life. It wasn't anything personal against Shion; it was just the way he was. It was as if the mistakes he made were glaring sentinels impeding his progress to become a better person.

"I'm just glad you both don't know me as well as I know myself," he thought. Not wanting to come across as a total ass, he said, "I try to be the best I can."

"That's all anyone can ask of you, right?" Dan nodded, and forced a smile.

"That's true; thanks for that."

"No problem," Shion said. "So, what's on your mind that has you so bogged down?" Groaning, Dan tried to think of the best way to answer the question. Remembering when he had told Keiichi vaguely about it, and how he had reacted, he didn't want to endure a similar reaction. What was happening was real, and though he had 'accepted' it as fact, the whole idea sounded like the ramblings of a madman, and Dan had no desire to check in to a mental institution any time soon. Copping out with an answer of 'it's complicated,' didn't seem the best route, either.

"Have you ever had something you believed in so strongly, and you knew it to be true?" Shion nodded, while her smile was slowly fading from her face. "At the same time, you felt that you couldn't tell anybody, not because you didn't trust them, but the idea seemed so outlandish, you knew no one would hear you out?"

"I think I can," Shion said, her mind wandering to a far off, dark place. Dan could tell that he had surfaced a painful memory in her mind, albeit unknowingly. Scratching his head furiously, it looked as if he were about to start his hair on fire. Swearing under his breath, he apologized to Shion for bringing his despair upon her. "Oh, no, that's not your fault!" she spattered, waving her hands frantically, "I was trying to say that I could relate." Breathing a sigh of relief, Dan continued.

"Well, I've got one of those situations on my hands, and the longer I think about it, the more confused I get. I just hope it all ends soon."

"Whatever happens, I hope you find the answers you're looking for." Dan smiled, and nodded again.

"So, any-who, let's get off this depressing topic. Why don't you come and hang out with Mion and the others after school tomorrow? The more the merrier, I say."

"What?"

"You know, hang out, and play some games? I know the others wouldn't mind, ya'know? Whaddaya say?"

"I just don't know if I have time tomorrow," Shion said, obviously nervous.

"Well, if you find some time, know you're always welcome." Shion blushed slightly, but not enough for Dan to notice.

"I'll definitely keep that in mind," she said. "I need to get back to work now; maybe I'll see you later." Before Dan could say another word, she got up, and excused herself.

"Quite the ladies man, aren't I?" he groaned internally. "I just wish I knew what I said that struck a nerve, aside from that ambiguous comment I made about life in Himamizawa." Knowing that he had things to get to as well, he inhaled his coffee and fruit, left the money on the table, and walked out.

Stopping by a pay phone, Dan looked up the directions to the man's house in the phone book. Glad to see that it wasn't far away from where he was currently, he hurried on his way.

"You know," he thought, "I totally forgot to ask Hanyuu how to reach her. I could really use a lookout, to make sure –"

"Did you call?"

"Geh!" Spinning around, expecting to see someone else, he was incredibly surprised to see Hanyuu instead. "How long have you been here?" Hanyuu whimpered, and looked like she was about to cry. Dan quickly knelt down, and went to dry the tears from her eyes. He was surprised once again to find that he could wipe her tears away. Afraid that she might hear what he thought, he emptied his mind completely. "I'm sorry for shouting," he said. "I guess I'm still not used to having you show up randomly."

"It wasn't random, you called me, and so I came."

"I just thought about…oh," Dan said, just barely making the connection.

"You really can be dense sometimes, can't you?" Leonard asked.

"Have you ever dealt with something like this before?" Dan snapped.

"Regardless of whether either of us has dealt with it before, you are dealing with a young girl. They tend to be a bit more fragile than men, as far as emotions are concerned. What was that about 'curbing your emotions at the appropriate time' spiel again?" Dan didn't respond, sulking momentarily over Leonard's words.

"I never said I was perfect at it, I still make a lot of mistakes."

"Just learn from them and move on."

"That's easier said than done." Shifting his attention back to Hanyuu, he looked around, to see that a group of people had stopped and were watching him. Pretending to tie his shoe, and began walking away, telling Hanyuu to follow him. She did so, cheering up after having heard Dan's apology.

"So what do you need help with?" she asked, happy to be of some use once again.

"I'll be breaking into that man's house, and planting those bugs we got from the police office. I need to find out as much about this group of people as I can. That way, I can stop them before they make a move. At least in theory, I hope."

"I see, au auu…"

"What's wrong?" Dan asked, "Do you think something is going to go wrong?"

"It's possible, I guess. I just wouldn't get your hopes up to high, though." Dan was slightly irritated by that comment, but stopping to think about her words, and the reason why she was using them, he could understand where she was coming from. For however long their dilemma had been going, this certainly wasn't their first attempt to stop this vicious circle from revolving. Though, now that he was here, he felt that he could make a difference. Saving Keiichi and the others last time was a testament to what he could do to make that difference a reality. Unfortunately, he had also failed to prevent Rika's death last time, though he had no way of knowing that would be the case. Things were falling into place this time, with the exception of Tomitake, and Dan was determined to stay the course, no matter the cost.

"I can tell that you have a lot of reasons to doubt ever getting out of this nightmare scenario. We won't know anything unless we at least try; am I right?" Hanyuu seemed to agree, and looked a bit ashamed. "I know I don't want to imagine failing again, but I am unbelievably stubborn. I won't give up on any of you, no matter what."

"Would you still continue, even if you were to lose your life in the attempt?" Hanyuu asked, in an unusually dark tone of voice. Dan was about to scream 'hell yeah, I'll do it!' but the way in which she posed the question worried him. He had, as far as he knew, never died before, but as was custom, people die when they are killed. Trying not to laugh at the ridiculous nature of that statement, he still had cause to wonder. This was not a typical situation he was dealing with, so it was anyone's guess what would happen to him. After thinking about it, he shook his head, and laughed.

"You know, if that's what it takes, then so be it!" Hanyuu recoiled at Dan's reaction, amazed with his bravado. "If I make a mistake, and that's what happens, I can't change it. Though, I doubt that'll happen. I've had plenty of close calls before, and as long as I put my best foot forward, that's all I can do."

"We'll see how long that lasts," Hanyuu thought silently, so that Dan couldn't hear her. When she looked up, they were right outside the man's house, and Dan had already picked the lock.

"Are you coming or not?" Dan asked, sporting his game face. Hanyuu stared at him for a moment, confused at how carefree he was acting. At the same time, that was a feeling she wanted to enjoy, though hadn't been able to for quite some time. She smiled, and caught up to him.

"What do you need me to do?"

"There's the Hanyuu I know and love," he said with a laugh. Hanyuu looked appreciative of that comment, and nodded. "Now, the best thing you can do is run through the house quickly, just to make sure we're alone in here." Without another word, she vanished; Dan only had to wait thirty seconds before she came back.

"Looks completely clear!" she beamed.

"Excellent work, I knew I could count on you." Immediately, he pulled off his backpack, and started going through the equipment he had acquired. Once he had a handful of toys, he began slinking through the house, looking for the best place to plant them. At first glance, there was nothing particularly special about the house. It was a single story home, which looked as up kept as would an elderly lady's home. Everything was organized, and it seemed that only the bare essentials had been supplied. From the entry way, he passed through the living room, to the kitchen, and finally to the bedroom. It was all too perfect, which had Dan more on his toes than ever. Constantly looking for sensors and trip wires, etc., he was relieved not to find any. The fact remained, however, that the slightest mistake could be his last.

As he continued his search, he noticed that there were a few areas that weren't as immaculate as the rest of the home. There was a bookcase in the corner of the bedroom that had something that looked like wheel tracks to the side of it. There was also a wall in the kitchen with similar markings, as well as on the floor.

"Hanyuu, can you come over here for a sec?" She did so, and looked at the wall. "Would you mind taking another look?" Nodding, she walked through the wall, and gasped.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed.

"What's wrong over there?" he asked.

"You've got to see it for yourself."

"I can't really walk through walls like you, ya'know? Is there some sort of lever over there?" Hanyuu looked around for a moment, and found what Dan was talking about. She pulled it, and the wall slid away slowly, revealing a staircase that lead down to a room, filled with a stock pile of weaponry. His jaw nearly fell to the floor when he saw it. Ranging from handguns, rifles, and shotguns, to explosives and body armor, it was a complete arsenal for a decent sized battle, if not the beginnings of a war.

"What do you think?" Hanyuu asked, looking at Dan's facial expression.

"I'm at a loss for words," he mumbled, still letting it all sink in. "Although, this isn't the first stockpile I've even seen. I'm just surprised to find it in such a plain looking home." Hanyuu looked quite shocked to hear that from Dan.

"You've seen this before?"

"Yeah, back in Chicago. I was there for a year staying with a couple of bounty hunters, Rally and May."

"What are bounty hunters?"

"They're kind of like detectives that only take cases that offer rewards, usually for cash. Their collection, though, totally puts this to shame, now that I think about it."

"I can't even begin to image that!" Hanyuu stammered.

"As excessive as their collection was, though," Dan continued, "Those two only ever used it to uphold the law. I can only imagine what these guys have in mind for this. Who knows, maybe there are more of these places in town. I can only hope that there isn't." Hanyuu nodded, as a chill ran through her body at thought about that possibility. "The worst part about this is that I can't really tell the police directly! I'd get thrown in jail for searching this place without a warrant; it doesn't help that I have no authority, either."

"It is for a good cause though," Hanyuu piped in, trying to curve the edge off of that statement.

"Unfortunately, the police don't usually care what the reason is. Though, I shouldn't spend a lot of time moping about it, I am avoiding them to begin with." Walking through all the weapons, Dan deliberated whether or not he should take a few 'souvenirs,' or not. The longer he looked, the more he wanted to take it all. Fortunately, common sense told him that would be a poor decision to make, not to mention the impracticality of trying to carry it all away in one trip.

After a few minutes of looking, Dan shook his head, and frowned. "That's not what I'm here for; I need something I can use to figure out exactly what they're up to."

"Dan, come over here!"

"Did you find something?"

"It's a list of names and addresses; what do you think it's for?" Dan skimmed through it, and noticed that only men showed up on the list. Looking at another column on the list, he saw the word, 'rank.'

"They're making this way too easy," Dan thought. Pulling out a piece of paper from his pack, and setting the bugging equipment aside he scribbled down a few of the higher ranking officials on the list. Setting it back where he found it, he picked his stuff back up, and positioned a couple of bugs in the room. "I've got a bad feeling about this, worse than before." Prior to leaving the room, a row of suitcases caught his eye. Picking one up, he opened it to find a medium sized beige cube surrounded by foam, along with several metallic disks, and what looked like a joystick. It easily weighed twenty-five pounds. His face went pale, and he gingerly closed the case.

"What's that?" Hanyuu asked.

"Something exceptionally dangerous," Dan said, "Though, I think I can put this to much better use." Once he felt that the room was in the same order it was when he entered, he scrambled around the rest of the house, placing bugs in several well concealed nooks and crannies. Not wasting another second, once he felt satisfied, he left the house, and vanished into the woods.

"Are we done breaking into houses?"

"For the time being, yes, we're done."

"I'm glad to hear that; look at what we just avoided." Dan turned around, and saw a police car drive up to the house, along with the man Dan had seen earlier that day. Only one word came to mind when Dan saw that:

"Unbelievable."

"Do you need anything else?" she sighed. Laughing silently, Dan looked at Hanyuu square in the eyes, and grinned.

"You sound like you're not having any fun!"

"You're unbelievable," Hanyuu replied, a blank expression spreading across her face. Checking the time, Dan saw that it was only half past five.

"I think we can call that a day. Go get some rest, and if I need you again, I'll call for you."

"Thanks," she said, then disappeared.

"I'm home," Dan said, taking his shoes off and entering the house. Rika and Satoko both stopped what they were doing, and rushed to the front door, and jumped on Dan.

"Dan! What happened? Why did that policeman want from you?" Satoko asked, all but shouting.

"Are you in trouble?" Rika asked. Trying not to look as though he were in pain from the two of them crying in his ear, he simply smiled; though the ringing was incredible. Once he could hear and think again, he responded.

"I'm not in trouble, and I asked him if I could go with him to the station. (I thought I had mentioned that before I left. One of the others should have told them, at least.)"

"Why did you want to go up there with him?" Satoko asked. Dan set the girls down, and they all walked into the kitchen.

"Didn't she listen to a word I said?" Dan thought, "I could have sworn she was there when I explained all of this." He gave it another thought, and figured that she was so overly concerned that she had forgotten. He hadn't heard of that ever happening before. Regardless, he told them about everything Oishi and he had discussed. Once that was over, the both of them seemed to have calmed down, and Dan started making dinner.

"That's pretty sad," Satoko sighed, "Why would someone kill those two? Takano was nice enough, at least to me. Though, I can't say much about Tomitake; I've never met him before."

"See, that's what I think, except it's the other way around. Though, my opinion isn't that valid, since I only met them for five to ten minutes. There's that, and the fact that Takano punched me in the face." Satoko looked at Dan like he was crazy, before turning to Rika, who just shrugged.

"I wasn't there when it happened. I had to get ready for the performance that evening."

"But, why would she do that?" Satoko asked.

"Maybe because I told her what I thought about this Oyashiro-sama bull crap." Satoko's face fell into the typical 'ugh' face.

"That's Dan for you, honest to a fault, and blunt to boot."

"Ambiguity really just pisses me off," Dan said flatly, narrowly avoiding cutting himself. "People need to say what they mean, and mean what they mean. If you can't do that, then what does that say about your character and credibility?"

"That is a good point, but you've got to be careful sometimes," Rika said, giving him a motherly look. Dan resisted the urge to roll his eyes, as he finished loading up the rice cooker.

"I wouldn't have gone off on it if she didn't bring it up. Besides, the way she looked when she said what she did, she looked downright creepy. Almost as if she was looking forward to it happening again.

"Anyway, that's enough about that dour subject, how was the rest of your day?" Dan asked.

"Not bad," Satoko said, "The club activities were really good, you should have been there. Rena and Keiichi both lost, and they both had to dress up in maid outfits."

"Rena thought Keiichi was so cute in his outfit, she ended up chasing him all through the school, shouting 'I'm going to take you home!' the whole time," Rika added.

"The best part about it was the two of them had to wear their costumes home!"

"Damn, that's sucks for Keiichi," Dan thought. "What's with the cross-dressing fetish these girls have? It kind of freaks me out!" Dan nodded, and laughed a bit to let the two girls know that he wasn't ignoring them. He grabbed the plates and the rest of the tableware, and set the table.

"Dan, can I ask you a favor?" Satoko asked.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, if it's not too much trouble," she began timidly, "Do you mind if…and if you're really not okay with it, that's fine!"

"Hey, don't sweat it," Dan said, "I can handle it."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"…Do you mind if I call you nii-nii?" Dan's face faltered, and a tear formed in his eye. Quickly, he wiped it away, and looked more closely at Satoko. She was bright red, looking as if her heart would burst at any moment, depending on Dan's answer. His initial feeling was to answer no, his faults rising to the surface once again. His last experiences dealing with family blew up in his face. On the other hand, things had been considerably more tolerable with his fresh start with everyone. Still, he was curious as to why she was taking that much of a liking to him. He couldn't think of anything that would spark that kind of reaction or interest. Deciding to go with his heart rather than his head, he nodded. Satoko's expression made a night and day change, and nearly bowled Dan over as she jumped on him once again. He allowed himself to enjoy the moment for a decent amount of time before looking to Rika; she gave him the thumbs up signal, letting him know that he had made a good decision. Once Satoko felt satisfied, she let Dan go, and helped him finish the meal preparations. The three of them had a pleasant evening together, remembering happier times, and forgetting their woes.

By the time they wrapped up dinner, it was well into the night. Dan was slightly taken aback when the girls both offered to help him with the dishes, due to the circumstances pertaining to him being there in the first place. Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he gladly accepted their assistance. Though, the increase in thoughtfulness from both of them had begun displaying. He was still struggling with the notion of fulfilling the big brother role, made official moments ago by Satoko. The only reason that came to mind for that type of behavior, as far as he knew, was due to the deaths of Tomitake and Takano. Under any other set of circumstances, Dan would have felt like an emotional crutch, as well as feeling somewhat bitter. Unaccustomed as he was to familial relationships, his gut was telling him to stop being so callous for once. Ever since he was imprisoned, a wall had formed around his heart, and he had told himself that he would never let anyone get close enough to hurt him again. Slowly but surely, that was changing the more he got to know Keiichi and the girls.

His actions lately, regarding the protection of his friends, in which he felt justified and somewhat noble, but there was a darker, underlying reason to them. The fact was that enjoyed the rush of punishing those men that crossed his path, almost more than he did about those he was protecting. When he thought about that truth, he felt completely hollow inside, like his soul was missing. Ashamed as he was, however, he knew that ignoring that fact wouldn't change it. Owning up to it was the first step, something he knew, but had kept avoiding. Modifying those attitudes and behaviors would take time, and was obviously harder than simply admitting the problem. The longer he pondered upon his actions, the more it showed on his face. Before either Satoko or Rika could get a good look at him, he snapped out of his pity party, and began focusing on the good things that had been happening lately.

"Rome wasn't built in a day, right?" he asked himself, whilst getting ready to turn in for the night with the girls. "I've just got to take this one step at a time, and work with what I've got."

Shortly thereafter, Dan was tucking both of them into bed. Dan was about to step out the door when Satoko stopped him.

"Nii-nii?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Would you please tell us a story?" Dan cocked an eyebrow, and looked at the two of them laying there, looking up longingly.

"It's certainly been a while since I've received that request," he said. Rika and Satoko looked rather intrigued with that statement.

"I don't think we've ever asked you before," she said. Dan laughed and shook his head.

"Sorry, I was referring to my family, when I lived in Florida. My younger brother, Jim, used to ask me every night back then."

"I thought that you weren't on speaking terms with any of them," Satoko said

"That's true now," Dan said, shaking his head. "It wasn't always that way, ya'know? I mean, I know I'm still a handful, but come on!" he added in a jest like manner.

"I don't know," Satoko laughed, "You could still be that way."

"You don't know the half of it!" Looking at his watch, it was now roughly eleven o'clock. He groaned, not looking forward to the rest of his evening that he had planned out. He wanted to just call it a night, but he remembered his commitment that he had just made to himself. "Got to start somewhere, right?" he thought to himself. "Dude, look at the time! I better get going on this story."

"Nipah!" Rika sang, causing Satoko and Dan to both laugh out loud. Once they had all settled back down, Dan put his thinking cap on.

"All right, let's see here, what should this one be about?"

"Don't think too hard, I think I can see some smoke coming out of your ears," Satoko laughed.

"Oh, ha ha," Dan chuckled. All of a sudden, it burst on him what he should say, and a smile spread across his face. Taking only a moment longer to organize it in his head, he began.

"Okay, here we go. Once upon a time, there was a man, who lived with his two daughters in a small village. The three of them got along just fine, along with their friends. Everything was fine, until the day that…let's say, Mr. Smith, came to town. For whatever reason, he decided that he didn't like how smoothly things were going in their town, and decided to cause a little mischief. At first, it started out as practical jokes, but when that no longer satisfied him, people started to go missing.

"The man, Mr. Jones, knew that something must be done to stop Mr. Smith from playing his twisted little games. Mr. Jones decided to find out as much as he could about Mr. Smith, and why he was acting the way he was. Though Mr. Jones searched for quite some time, he was unable to find anything about Mr. Smith specifically. There was, however, a unusual trail of breadcrumbs he had left for anyone curious enough to chase him, if they felt so inclined.

"Just when Mr. Jones thought he should give up, Mr. Smith showed up, as if out of thin air. Mr. Jones wanted to try reasoning with Mr. Smith, but Mr. Smith refused to listen. Unwilling to let another disappearance occur, Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith fought." Dan took a deep breath, and looked at the two girls, who were both quite wide awake.

"What happened next?" Satoko asked, concern lining every syllable.

"Yes, what _did_ happen next, Dan?" Rika chimed.

"Mr. Jones won, of course," Dan said, "And Mr. Smith was thrown in jail, far, far away. (At least, that's what I hope happens…)" The two girls looked at each other, and then looked at Dan.

"Not one of your best stories, I take it?" Satoko asked, frowning slightly. Dan felt as if she had stabbed him in the back. Meaning to give them some sort of comfort that he had some sort of plan, without telling them outright, seemed to have failed altogether. Scratching his head, he let out a weak laugh, and grimaced.

"I'll try to give a better one tomorrow, okay?"

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise." Satisfied with his answer, the two girls shortly fell asleep, leaving Dan to himself. Not wanting to waste another second, he rushed up to his room, though remaining as quiet as a mouse. Once settled down, he pulled out the radio, tuned it to the correct frequency, along with two pads of paper, and a pencil, from his backpack. On the first, he began writing everything he could remember about the time he had spent in Hinamizawa. The list included the day he first arrived, when he first met Keiichi and the girls, down to possible suspects in the Oyashiro-sama murders. Keeping a sharp ear out for any information that came over the airwaves, which was silent for several hours, he became extremely bored. Thinking of ways to keep himself awake, he moved on to write a letter to everyone, explaining his research, and theories about the whole situation. The longer he wrote, the harder he found it to continue on. The only thing that kept him going was the fact that this information would possibly prove useful for himself, or his friends, depending on the outcome of the next few days.

By the time morning came back around, Dan was senselessly tapping the desktop with his pencil, reduced to a two inch stub. A small indention had formed in the spot he had been tapping for quite some time. Looking at the clock, it was depressing to see that it was already six thirty in the morning. Groaning, and forcing himself to get moving, he put his research notes inside a small teddy bear he had won at the festival. Carefully sewing it back up, he placed it back in its original place. The letter he kept on his own person, thinking it best to keep the two documents separate.

Once he had showered, and prepared breakfast, the girls had just barely risen from their beds. Ignoring their surprised looks, he plainly sat down at the table.

"You look like you had a rough night," Satoko said, "Did you have trouble sleeping?"

"I guess you could say that," Dan answered dryly. "Had a lot on my mind lately, ya'know?"

"It certainly seems that way," Rika replied, "That's been the case for the past few days, hasn't it?" Nodding, he grinned, and poured a glass of juice for the three of them.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Satoko inquired.

"Not right now, there are still a few things I'm working out."

"Sometimes it helps to talk to others about those kinds of things, you might be able to see things under a different light," Satoko stated, in a matter of fact tone.

"I think I'll hold off on that offer for now," Dan said, "It's not the best time to talk about it." The look on Satoko's face screamed with dissatisfaction, so Dan scratched his head, and laughed a bit. "How does tonight sound then, probably after dinner?" With that comment, her facial expression changed, and she nodded. Rika looked concerned, but Dan gave her a discrete wink, which alleviated her mind somewhat. "Now, let's get on with the morning, and make the best of today, alright?

Thirty minutes later, they arrived at the school, and took their seats. Shortly thereafter, the others arrived, and sat down as well.

"Good morning!" Mion said, in a sing-song type of voice. Dan jumped a little, from the sudden burst of adrenaline she sent down his spine. No one seemed to notice, so Mion continued on. "How was your night, Danny?" That grabbed his attention quickly, and he let out a small laugh.

"Nothing to complain about, just a bit longer than I thought it should've been ya'know? How about you, Mio, how was yours?"

"Uneventful, and peaceful," Mion answered.

"Glad to hear it," Dan said, taking a quick look at Keiichi and Rena, who were both holding hands. Another shot of adrenaline rushed to his brain, which must have shown strongly on his face. When the two of them realized why he looked as he did, the two of them blushed, and tried not to smile too widely. "Oh ho, what do we have here, now?" Everyone else's attention shifted to Keiichi and Rena, with creepy smiles, and glowing white eyes. Both Keiichi and Rena flinched, but knew that their friends meant no harm. Laughing it off, Keiichi stepped up to explain.

"Since everyone has been so busy with their own business lately, such as with Dan moving out to stay with Rika and Satoko, and whatnot, Rena and I have had more time to spend with each other. The past few days have been especially enjoyable, isn't that right, Rena?" Rena nodded, and lightly squeezed Keiichi's hand in approval.

"No offense, Dan, but why should you have all the fun?" Rena laughed. Everyone joined along with Rena in the revelry. Dan had nothing to say back to that comment, because he couldn't deny that fact. Though, he was confused as to why the lot of them had taken such a liking to him. In all honesty, he was glad to get a small degree of respite from the madness. By the same token, the thought had crossed his mind more than once that he would rather have that drama than the problems that might have unfolded had he not been present. Either way, he was glad for the feeling of peace they were all enjoying. The level of enjoyment he was experiencing was possibly a bit too much, since the next thing he knew was that he floating in the clouds.

"How did I get up here?" Dan asked himself, wandering around. The surrounding he found himself in were a brilliant shade of white, and strangely peaceful. Nothing but white as far as he could see, he knew he shouldn't have been feeling anything but bliss, but he felt something ominous about the whole situation. For several minutes he strolled along, without much of a care. That was, until, he heard an oddly high-pitched whistling sound coming from behind him. By the time he turned around to face the source of the sound, a cruise missile hit him square in the face. Instead of exploding on impact, decimating his very existance, he hit the wall of the classroom, and began rolling around in pain. The sound of Chie-sensei's voice felt like lemon juice on an open wound when it registered in his brain.

"I don't know what you think you're doing, or how you were raised Dan, but that kind of behavior is completely unacceptable!" Dan wanted to recoil and give her a piece of his mind, but he was lacking the drive. Instead of coming out as, "What the hell is your problem!" it came out as slurred, near drunken speech. Red-faced, Mion stood up, and gave an apologetic bow. Chie's anger subsided, but waited for an explanation. Mion shot Dan a glance, telling him to follow suit. Begrudgingly, he did so, and tried to push the pain out of his mind. Though he wasn't sure why Mion was apologizing.

"Dan wasn't up to anything devious, Chie-sensei. He just nodded off."

"Is that all?" she asked, eying the two of them suspiciously.

"Of course," Mion replied. Dan's eyes flew open, as the realization hit him, and thoughts of the implications of simply 'nodding off' meant when involving a member of the opposite sex, overwhelmed his senses. All rational elucidation vanished, and when the nastiest thought hit his mind, everything grinded to an agonizing halt.

"Do you have anything you would care to add, Dan?" Chie asked.

"…"

"Dan?"

"…"

"Are you in there?" Without warning, Dan's head exploded, and a puff of smoke emanated from each of his ears. The whole class gasped, while certain others stifled laughter, namely Rika and Satoko. Chie, unclear on how to take that reaction, thought about what she knew about Dan, and what she did not. Nothing like that had ever happened in the month he had spent in her class. That, coupled with the fact that Mion was so quick to excuse and forgive him, seemed atypical to her personality. Normally, she would have slugged the offending party in the face, but that wasn't the case. Based on that fact, she decided to let it go. Disgruntled, Chie grabbed a cup of water off her desk and threw it into Dan's face, wrenching him back into reality.

"What the…! What just happened?"

"Take a seat Dan, class is about to start." Avoiding any additional argument, Dan obeyed, and remained attentive during the duration of the class.

Chie was reasonably impressed, not to mention grateful, for the co-operation the students offered. In fact, by the time the final bell rang, she was almost disappointed, though not enough to stick around too long. The other students followed her example, and wandered off one by one. Only Dan and the others remained, as usual, for their after school activities.

"Let's try something new today," Mion suggested with an air of mischievousness in her tone.

"What did you have in mind," Keiichi asked.

"Let's go for a few rounds of the King game," Mion said, grinning ear to ear.

"Oh ho!" Satoko laughed, "That sounds excellent!"

"Nipah!" Rika chimed in. Dan had no idea what they were talking about, and looked completely bored, since his mental energies were directed to remaining awake, rather than to what was going on about him. Rena picked up on his obliviousness, so she leaned over, and whispered in his ear.

"It's pretty simple, the king game. We draw lots, and whoever is the king, they can ask one person to do any one thing." His curiosity now piqued, his gears began turning once again.

"Any one thing?"

"That is, anything within reason, of course."

"This could be rather interesting," Dan thought, "Or completely disastrous…"

"Mind if I join for today?" A familiar voice asked. Without thinking, Dan turned to face who he thought to be Mion, and was about to say, 'Of course,' but when he realized who it was, his jaw nearly hit the floor with a thud.

"Shion, what are you doing here?" Acting faintly offended, Dan began spattering nonsense, while the others were completely shocked to see her, especially Mion.

"Well, you did invite me, didn't you?" Aghast, Mion turned to Dan, and gave him a look of deep hurt.

"Is that true?" Mion asked, frowning.

"Yes I did. I didn't think she'd show up, though, since she turned my invitation down. I was just trying to be friendly, ya'know?" Remaining unconvinced, Mion looked at her sister, who returned a playful smile, then back at Dan, who looked like a mournful inmate on the green mile. Mion gave it much more thought, until Rika broke her train of thought.

"I don't mind if she joins."

"Me neither," Satoko added, as seeing Dan so uncomfortable made her even more so. Keiichi and Rena also gave their approval, which was enough to finally make Mion cave under the guilt.

"Oh, I suppose she can stay. The more the merrier, right?" The others nodded, and added an additional space for Shion to take a seat. Mion took her seat right next to Dan, and forcefully took his arm under her own. Smiling, Shion took her seat on the opposite side of Dan, though a bit too close for Dan's comfort. Dan looked to Keiichi to keep his mind from wandering, and nodded for him to start. Doing so, he produced the lots from the nearby locker, shook them, and allowed everyone to draw. Fortunately, neither of the twin sisters won the first round; the winner was Rika.

"Nipah!" she sang.

"Shoot," Shion lamented.

"Hmm…what should I ask for?" Looking at each of the participants, her gaze stopped on Keiichi, and a devious grin began to form.

"Uh oh," Keiichi thought, knowing the girls weren't the type to hold back on their judgments in this type of scenario.

"Keiichi, I think it's been quite some time since you've worn that swan ballerina outfit. Reha, you can change him into his new outfit!" Everyone except Dan and Keiichi laughed, though Dan was breathing a sigh of relief, while Keiichi looked appalled at the suggestion of the idea. Before he could utter his disapproval, Rena had him out of his school clothes and into the outfit in seconds. A stray article of clothing hit Dan square in the face, and everyone began laughing hysterically. Dan reached up, and swiped the article from his face, but turned ghostly white when he saw that they were his undergarments. Casting them aside like a venomous cobra, he wiped his face repeatedly until he felt satisfied. The laughter continued for a good amount of time before Rika collected the lots, and shuffled them once again. Tentatively, the group snatched at the lots, hoping to acquire the coveted king lot. Everyone but Shion let out a collective groan, signifying that they were not victorious that round. Beaming, Shion shifted her gaze from person to person, pausing to laugh at how ridiculous Keiichi looked in his outfit.

"Go ahead, laugh it up," Keiichi said calmly, "You just wait until I win a round."

"Is that a threat?" Shion asked, not taking his comment all too serious.

"You'll have to wait and see," he countered.

"I guess so. Until then," Shion said, returning her gaze to Dan, and taking his hand. Dan jolted, and went completely flush. Mion's temper rose a few degrees, wondering what her sister was up to. Deciding to remain silent, Dan merely gulped. Shion inched slowly towards Dan's face, putting Dan in a trance-like state, his heart rate rising rapidly. The closer Shion got, the tighter Mion's grip became on Dan's arm. By the time Shion's advance came to a halt, Dan's forearm was turning purple from the lack of oxygen. However, Dan was so far gone that he didn't notice. Satoko tapped Mion on the arm, and pointed that out to her. Alarmed, Mion let go of Dan's arm, but accidentally shoved Dan forward an inch. That was the final inch it took to reach Shion's face, which resulted in a full-on kiss. Everyone in the room felt as if they had been turned to stone, aside from Shion and Dan; Shion was pleasantly surprised, while Dan felt that if his eyes were any wider, they might just pop out of his skull. At the same time, he felt an odd sensation of curiosity, though it was shortly overwhelmed with a feeling of impending doom. No further explanation necessary, he pulled away, and prostrated himself, and began sputtering apologies, relying wholly on the mercies of Mion, praying she realized it was only an accident.

Once Mion had come out of her shocked state, she felt an intense amount of animosity rush through her system. Mion wanted to beat the living tar out of Dan initially, for two-timing on her right in front before her eyes. She raised her foot, ready to grind Dan's face into the floor, ignoring his pleas for mercy, but stopped halfway through, because Satoko was holding her back, trying to keep Mion from hurting Dan. Only then did she realize how foolish she was acting, though the sting from the act still remained. Calming back down, she extended her hand to Dan, and raised him back to his feet.

Witnessing all of this, Shion began to feel a tinge of guilt, though she was still trying to justify it as a playful accident. It didn't really come across to her as a big deal, since it was just a kiss, not even an intentional one. Despite that, seeing the reactions from everyone was as ridiculous as it was comical.

"Mion, I'm…uh, well, how can I say…" Dan stammered. Mion raised a finger, and gently placed it on Dan's lips, bringing him to a halt.

"Don't worry about it, it's just a game." Those words took an immense weight off of Dan's conscious, and he graciously accepted her tolerance. The two of them looked into each other's eyes, getting caught up in the moment. For a moment, it looked as if the two of them were going for their own kiss, until Shion interrupted with a well timed cough. Coming back to their senses, they laughed off the awkwardness of the situation, and went back to playing the game. Mion put on a happy face, but on the inside she still felt a bitter sting in the back of her mind, wondering exactly how much of that was merely an accident on Shion's part.

Once everyone felt satisfied, or just plain worn out, from their club activity, they packed it up, and decided to call it a day. Dan sent Rika and Satoko up on ahead, saying that he'd catch up. Both agreed, and said their goodbyes. Keiichi and Rena went off together, holding hands, and chatting merrily. Mion and Shion both hung back, cleaning up the classroom, along with Dan. Unlike the girls, he wore his emotions up on his sleeves, and his disheveled look was at its peak. The twins picked up on it easily, and stopped what they were doing.

"What's on your mind, Dan?" Sighing deeply, Dan looked as if he had been appointed to head the overhaul and reconstruction of a country's economic crisis.

"I still feel like a dirtbag for earlier this morning. I know it was all just a game, but I just don't feel right about it."

"I told you not to worry about it, Dan. It's not that big of a deal," Mion said, still putting up a happy front. Shion, on the other hand, looked offended, and called Dan on it.

"What's wrong Dan? Don't you like me, too?"

"Yes, I do like you, but not to the extent you might understand it."

"And what might that be?" Shion asked, adding a slim edge to her tone. Beginning to get aggravated, Dan kept it mute for the time being, but took a deep breath before giving a response.

"Look, please don't take this too personal…and I know this might seem like making a mountain out of a mole hill to the two of you, but I believe in being honest in all aspects of life, which includes relationships." Mion lessened her focus on her sister, and shifted back to Dan. "Now, I'm far from perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and relationships aren't my forte; I'm still not completely sure on why Mion even took a liking to me in the first place! But, whatever the reason, I'd like to keep that relationship as whole as possible. That's not to say that I don't want to stay friends with you, Shion."

Shion nodded, though she still felt annoyed with where this was headed. Despite the fact she hadn't vocalized her concern; Dan picked up on it, or, at least anticipated it.

"What I'm really trying to get at is to apologize for any inconvenience, or discomfort I might have caused either of you. …May I have your forgiveness, and put this all behind us? Please?" Mion and Shion both looked at each other, and realized how childish they had all been acting. Having seen the expression on Dan's face, they both knew how seriously he was taking it, and how much it was affecting him.

"I'm sorry for over reacting," Mion told Shion.

"I'm sorry for kissing your boyfriend," Shion said. The two of them nodded, and turned back to Dan. "By the way, the way you reacted was rather interesting. It's almost like you've never…"

"…"

"Wait a minute," Mion said. "Are you serious? You're saying you've never…?"

"…Yeah." Dan answered, having gone fire-engine red in the face. The two sisters erupted into laughter, while Dan's humiliation deepened by the second. Eventually, the two came to a stop, and finished putting things away. Saying their goodbyes, the three took off in their own separate directions, heading to their respective homes. Dan was just happy the activity and his apology had ended on a good note for the day. "I think it's time I took a rest for the day. That's enough excitement, if I do say so myself."

"I'm afraid not, Dan." Now accustomed to Hanyuu's voice, Dan plainly turned to face her. He wasn't altogether pleased with the tone in her voice; it made him nervous.

"What's wrong?"

"I checked up on Takano, and she said something about moving out tonight." Dan felt his heart drop into his stomach, and his adrenaline began rushing.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Do you know what she meant by that, or do you know who she was talking to?"" Hanyuu shook her head, and frowned, which jolted Dan even more. "Damn, I wonder what she's up to." Figuring it would be in his best interest to get home as quickly as possible, he thanked Hanyuu for the tip-off, and began rushing home.

"It's already too late…" Hanyuu said, as she slowly faded from sight.

Reaching the front door of the house in record speed, Dan tried to get his breathing under control before entering. Upon opening the door, he expected something out of the ordinary to happen; nothing did. Walking to the kitchen, he saw that Satoko and Rika had already started making dinner. Both greeted him with a warm smile, and continued working. Drawing a sigh of relief he still had some time available, he began heading up to his room.

"How is everything?" Rika asked, stopping Dan before he got too far.

"Not bad, as far as Shion and Mion are concerned." Rika looked a bit puzzled. Dan took a moment to respond, checking to see if Satoko was listening, then pulled in a bit closer to Rika. "I'll tell you when I come back down. Dinner might be a bit interesting…" Dan rushed up, leaving Rika even more confused than when he stopped to explain things. That was the least of Dan's worries, however. He knew that he couldn't afford to dilly-dally, since Hanyuu's warning had been as vague as his explanation to Rika was. Dan opened up the duffel bag Keiichi had brought a few days ago, and emptied it out completely, which clanked and clunked when it hit the floor. Dan separated the clothes from the assortment of weaponry, consisting mainly of throwing knives and pistols. Suiting up with some under-armor, and hiding the smaller items underneath his normal clothes, which looked better than he was expecting it to. Jumping over to the suitcase full of C-4, he prepared the charges with a small one inch square of the compound, then reset them carefully in the case.

"Is everything okay up there?" Satoko shouted from the kitchen.

"Yep, everything is dandy! I'm just finishing up, so I'll be right down!"

"Okay!"

Dan stowed the rest of his belongings back into the bag, and pulled out the letter he had written earlier. Scribbling down some final thoughts he had on the situation, he walked downstairs, hiding the suitcase under the couch in the main room before coming into the kitchen, still scribbling furiously.

"Now what are you up to?" Satoko asked. Dan finished his thought, and folded the letter back up, and placed it in his wallet. "You look like you were answering the last few questions on a test!"

"That's not it, but a good guess. What else do you girls need help with?" Dan said, trying to shift the focus away from himself.

"We're all ready," Satoko said, taking her seat. "If you could grab the plates, we'll go ahead and start. …Are you alright? You look like you're hiding something." Rika looked nervously toward Dan, who looked even more so than she. He gave the two of them a look as though to say, "Okay, you've got me." Rika shook her head, but Dan ignored her. Dan's face went from panic stricken to an oddly calm look.

"Look, to be quite frank, you're not going to believe a word of what I have to say, but you've got to hear me out." Satoko's confidence quivered, unnerved by how somber Dan's tone had gone.

"…I trust you, nii-nii…" He smiled faintly, and took a deep breath.

"Well, this is how –"

Before Dan could say another word, the front door flew open, and two men rushed through. Both of the girls screamed, and ducked under the table. Dan's face contorted into a wildly evil grin, dropping his countenance several degrees, as he pulled out a revolver. The two men hadn't the chance to even ready their weapons; Dan had sent a .44 caliber slug between each man's eyes, dropping them to the floor. A split second later, the windows across the room shattered, followed by two more men bursting through what was left of them. Dan spun on his heels, dropped to the floor, narrowly missing the enemy fire. Thinking they had hit him, they lowered their weapons, giving Dan a chance to fire off two more rounds, hitting them squarely in the chest.

"Shit," Dan groaned, pulling out four replacement rounds, and shoving them into his revolver. "I thought I had a bit more time!"

"Dan!" Satoko screamed, "What's happening?" Dan thrust his free hand under the table, and waved them out, while staying low to the ground.

"I don't have time to explain, but we need to get out of here, now!"

"Wait a minute, you need to –"

"Look!" Dan shot, trying to keep his voice low, but his tone rattled her to the core. "Those men are trying to kill us! We either leave, or we die! Do you understand?" Tears welled up in Satoko's eyes, completely at a loss for words. Years alone had made her strong enough to live regular day to day life, but the fear of death hadn't ever entered her mind. Other people dying had been tough, losing her parents, and seeing Rika lose hers was horrifying, but it took on a whole new meaning now that she was in the crosshairs. The longer she thought about it, the more the tears came gushing out. Dan knew that this was a lot to process, since everything was happening so quickly, he tried to take a bit of the edge off. "I'm sorry, but we really need to get out of here. All I can say for now is that as long as you're with me, I won't let anything, or anyone, hurt either of you. In order to do that, you need to continue to trust me. Can you do that for me?" Nodding weakly, Dan looked around, trying to determine the best way to exit the building. For all he knew, they might have the place surrounded, like the last time. This time, he needed to get two others out of the building, and keep them safe. Leaving them there would be asking for a game over ending.

"What's it going to be, Dan?" Leonard asked.

"…Fuck it. We're taking a b-line out of here to Mion's."

"What?" he asked, "Why there?"

"I just have a good feeling about it, that's all I can say."

"Whatever. Just don't get us killed."

"Way to be a team player…" Dan groaned. He pulled out a pair of pitch black glasses, and put them on.

"What are you doing now?" Rika asked.

"You'll see, but I recommend you keep your eyes closed for a while." He handed a blue canister to Satoko, and said, "When I tell you to pull the pin and throw this, you do it immediately, okay?"

"…Okay."

"Rika, do you see that suitcase at the door?" She nodded. "Hold on to that like your life depends on it, because that may very well be case." The three of them cautiously approached the door, and took a final look to make sure the coast was relatively clear. Dan could smell the men getting closer, waiting to ambush them the minute they stepped outside. Giving Satoko the go ahead, she pulled the pin, and threw the canister as hard as she could out the door.

"What is that?" someone shouted. From the distance, a sniper peered though his scope, and tried to target the canister.

"It's too small to be certain, but I think –"

A large flash filled the surrounding area for roughly ten seconds. Many of the men, wearing night-vision goggles, dropped their firearms, and reached to their faces, struggling miserably to alleviate the pain from their temporary blindness. Not wasting a second, Dan snatched the two girls up, cradling the two of them in his arms, with Rika sitting on Satoko's lap, and shot off like a bat out of hell down the road, leaving everyone in the immediate area in the dust. By the time they recovered, Dan was a few hundred yards away, his dust trail fading the further away he got.

"Damn it! We've got to follow them, or the boss will have our heads!" someone shouted. They all gathered themselves together, and began to give Dan chase. Meanwhile, Dan had taken a detour off the main trail, and began cutting through the trees, making it harder for those in vehicles to find them. Surprisingly, the bird weren't fluttering around him, which would definitely give away his position. Despite these few advantages he had over his pursuers, fatigue was setting in quicker than usual. Though, he knew the moment he let up, he would be found, and killed.

"What's your plan?" Satoko asked, still somewhat disgruntled about getting all but slammed into Rika. Rika's annoyance was even deeper than Satoko's, since she received the brunt of the escape.

"I haven't worked it all out quite yet."

"You mean you haven't thought this through?"

"Not really, no."

"I'm not so sure about –"

"Now hold up! I said it wasn't complete, it doesn't mean I'm completely clueless." The two groaned, obviously unnerved, on the verge of despair. "Gah, just hold on, I'll think of something!"

Five minutes later, Dan leapt over the Sonozaki residence wall, and back to the garden area. Scanning the area, he saw a large set of double doors, and was instinctively drawn to them. Setting the girls down, he opened the doors, ushered them inside, and slammed the doors behind him. He pulled out a small pen light, and wandered down the stairs, to an area that looked like it had modeled after a mid-evil dungeon, equipped with various devices of torture. Ignoring the questions that would enter any reasonable person's mind upon seeing such equipment, he kept moving. The girls, unable to contain their shock, mainly Satoko, screeched.

"Shh!" Dan whispered promptly, still scanning the area for hiding places to stash the girls.

"What the hell is all this equipment for?" Satoko asked.

"How should I know?" Dan groaned, feeling his gut was pulling a fast one on him. "I've never been down here before; I certainly wasn't missing out on much, eh?"

"So why do you think place is safe enough to hide in?" Rika asked.

"It looks like it hasn't been used in some time. There's that, and the fact that it's well off the beaten path. It should buy us some time for now, at least."

"Dan," Hanyuu's all too familiar voice came, accompanied with the usual tugging on his pant leg.

"What's wrong?" he thought, still wandering through the maze of horrors.

"Something's happening down at the school, and it doesn't look good!"

"How do you mean, exactly?"

"There's lots of men with guns rallying the village people together, and they're shoving them into the school." Dan stopped abruptly, the pain in his chest rising to full force once again, dropping him to his knees. Rika looked at Dan and then to Hanyuu, fearing the worst was about to happen. Satoko rushed to Dan's side, and tried to help him back up.

"What's the matter?"

"I…I can't stay here."

"Huh? Why?" she asked.

"I don't have time to explain, I just need to get down to the school…"

"The school? I don't understand what's happening here. Why can't you stay here and tell us what's happening? You said we should be safe here, right?"

"That's true, but I really can't stick around. All I can say for sure is more lives are at stake than I thought! I've got to stop it!" Frustrated, Satoko began crying again, and slugging Dan in the chest, which normally wouldn't have hurt, except for the stress he was currently under made it otherwise.

"You can't do it all by yourself! What about us? Don't you care?" Rika walked up to Satoko, looked her square in the eyes, and slapped her. Both Dan and Satoko were shocked, never having seen Rika behave that way before.

"Please, don't make this any harder than it needs to be. Dan knows what he's doing, and is acting in the best way he can." Satoko didn't want to let him go, having already lost her actual brother once before, she couldn't bear it again. Though, the look on Rika's face kept her at bay. Rika turned her attention back to Dan, and shooed him away. Not waiting for additional approval, Dan rushed back to the entrance, and made it to the front gate of the Sonozaki manor before he was stopped once again.

"Who's there?"

"Depends on who's asking," Dan answered.

"Dan? What are you doing here?" Dan turned around, and saw Mion standing some ten feet away.

"Mion! Fancy seeing you here, hehehe…"

"Of course I'd be here, I live here," Mion said, not seeing the humor Dan was trying to pass off. "It's a little late at night to be paying a visit. Do you mind telling me why you're here?"

"Well, you see, it's kind of a long story, and I don't have time to explain everything…"

"Then give me the reader's digest version," Mion said, worry and irritation coming through her tone.

"Reader's digest version, eh? Let's see, how about a rain check? It's really important, and I seriously must be going!" Mion's expression only continued to sour at this, causing Dan to scratch his head furiously. "People are going to die, if I don't leave right this minute, and I don't want that on my conscience, okay?"

"People are going to die? Slow down for a minute, and tell what's going on!"

"I don't know all the details, I just have a feeling that something bad is going to happen, and I've got to stop it?"

"But," Mion protested, "Why you?"

"If not me, then who? Who would pick up the slack?" Mion wanted to respond, but the truth of his words rang absolute. Seeing this, Dan continued, "Nobody comes to mind, unfortunately. You're just going to have to trust me on this one, okay?" Extremely hesitant, almost feeling threatened, Mion had no instant comeback. The only thing she could rely on from Dan was still the fact that he hadn't led her astray, or knowingly tried to hurt her. Besides, the look of urgency on Dan's face was incredibly unnerving. She took a deep breath, and shook her head.

"…Okay. How much time do you have?" Dan looked to Hanyuu, who gave him a hand signal of ten minutes.

"About then minutes, give or take a few."

"You better take a car, or you'll never make it," she said, as she reached into her jacket pocket, and handed him some keys. "It's the black one. Hurry." Dan accepted the keys graciously, then took Mion in a tender embrace, and kissed her gently on the lips. His face bright red, he frankly thanked her, and ran to the garage. Mion remained motionless in her tracks for several minutes after Dan had sped off, half elated, and half terrified. Tears forming in her eyes, she said, through gritted teeth, "You better come back alright."

The closer Dan got to the school, he began hearing bitter and anguished cries growing louder. It looked like there was a bonfire rally going on, though he knew it was something much worse. As soon as he could make out figures, he saw someone with what looked like a grenade launcher, poised at an open window. Once he had done the math, he felt a red hot rage bubble up from the deepest reaches of his soul, all his darkest desires coming to the surface. He performed a power-slide into the school lot, stepped out of the car, making everyone freeze like they had just seen the devil himself.

"Who the hell is that?" one of the men asked.

"I've never seen him before in my life," another answered.

"Halt! Who goes there?" Instead of answering, Dan let out a laugh that would have woken the dead, and forced them to consider if they had joined the right side.

"Leonard," Dan groaned.

"Yes?"

"Kill them. All of them." Instantly, Dan's personality subsided, and Leonard's completely took over. He began glowing in a combination of red and black, looking almost flame like in appearance. All the soldiers took their focus off the school, and took aim at Dan, violently shaking in their boots. Before one of them had a chance to fire a shot, ten of them fell to the ground, a knife deeply embedded in the wall behind them. The others, forcing themselves to ignore their fallen comrades, opened fire where Leonard stood. They only hit dust and shadows moments too late.

"Where is he?" someone stammered.

"Shit! I can't see him on the infrared…wait –"

Appearing in the middle of the group, Leonard stabbed two of them in the chest on both his left and right, then threw the two knives, lodging them into another two's throats. Pulling out their nine-millimeters, he spun around, firing shots rapidly, dropping a man with each shot. Again, before they could determine what was happening, Leonard leapt out of the way, charging another group of men. Midflight, he dropped the two empty nine's, and did a vertical roundhouse kick on one of the soldiers with a rifle, grabbed it, and fired a single shot through his skull. He landed on another two men's shoulders, doing a full split. The two of them grunted under the sudden weight of him, while Leonard emptied the clip on several oncoming men, dropping them with ease. Once that clip was empty, he slammed the two men's heads together as he sprang out of his split, knocking them out. Once again, he vanished from sight, leaving only about half of the men standing.

"Why can't we hit this guy? There's only one of him!"

"I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of here!" a smaller group shouted, taking off towards a vehicle.

"Don't you dare leave! The command will have your hide!"

"I'm sure the commander will understand!" they said as they began speeding off. They got about ten feet before Leonard dropped out of a tree onto the hood of the car, and fired a shot into the engine with his revolver, which killed the engine. He dropped a grenade into the sizable hole formed by the bullet, and vanished again, leaving a crater in his wake. At this, the remaining men began running off, desperate to get away, except one. Leonard appeared directly behind him, and picked him up by the throat.

"Please, …have mercy!" Leonard's eyes blazed with hatred, as his grip grew tighter on his throat.

"Mercy? You want mercy from me? Did you give mercy to all these people? Didn't they ask for mercy when you dragged them from their homes? DIDN'T THEY? ANSWER ME, DAMNIT!" The man couldn't, though he began crying uncontrollably. Wanting to kill him, something was holding Leonard back, and he lost his nerve. Instead, he stripped the man completely naked, and tossed him aside. "If I see you again, you will die. Do you understand me?" he roared. Scrambling, the man didn't stick around to find out how he would make good his word. Walking up to the school, Leonard ripped the chain that had been fastened to the door, and flung it wide open. Many of the villagers looked aghast at his bloodied appearance. The only exceptions were his friends, Shion, Keiichi & Rena, though they were still quite surprised.

"Dan? How did you know we were down here?" Shion asked.

"A little birdy told me," he said, smiling.

"Come on, be serious!"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you; it doesn't really matter, we've got to get out of here before re-enforcements show up. Do you know who was behind all of this?"

"I wish I could tell you," Keiichi replied. "I was doing some homework, and I heard the front door burst open. The next thing I knew, I woke up here.

"Damn, that's lousy…" Leonard groaned.

"Dan, look out!" Rena shouted. Before he could turn around, he received several shots in the back and arm. Fortunately, he had some body armor on, so the shots didn't penetrate very deep. Outraged that he had let himself slip like that, he turned, and faced the person who shot him. His face twisted with a small degree of shock, realizing it was Takano, but not enough to break his focus. Quickly, he turned back to his friends, and handed each a gun and a knife.

"Take this, and get the others to safety!"

"What? What about you?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll see you shortly. Now get out of here!" he said, and slammed the door. Leonard grinned widely, which made Takano angry, and she raised her gun once more.

"You've caused me quite a bit of trouble tonight, Dan," she said, in her eerily evil tone. Simply laughing, he raised his revolver, struggling to stabilize it.

"I aim to please, Takano. You look rather lively for someone who was supposed to be dead. How did you do it?" She chuckled bitterly, while keeping her aim fixed on Leonard's chest.

"You don't seem to surprised that I'm still alive. Did you leak information from some of my men?"

"Didn't have to, I just had a hunch."

"You certainly sound full of yourself. And I should congratulate you for making it this far, but I'm afraid it ends now."

"We'll see about that…" Leonard shot back, still smiling. Getting angrier by the second, Takano's face was slowly twisting with rage.

"If you step aside, and let me take care of your friends, I just might let you live." Leonard looked like he was giving it some thought for a moment, much to the dismay of those inside the school. His smile was quivering as he saw others begin driving up in their vehicles, and parking next to the other abandoned vehicles many of the dead had left behind. Then he remembered something he had on the whole lot of them. He erupted into maniacal laughter, which enraged Takano all the more. She fired a warning shot past his ear, which he caught with his arm making sure that it didn't make it into the school, and hit an innocent bystander. "What's your answer?"

"…Go fuck yourself!" he said, emptying his clip into the largest of the vehicles, hitting a gas line, causing it to blow up. Takano fired her gun in return, hitting Dan in his legs, and his arms, dropping him to the ground, wincing in pain. She walked up to him, and jammed the gun, piping hot from firing off so many shots, into his leg, which made him yell out in pain.

"You think I'm going to let a little shit like you stand in my way of fulfilling my goals that I've worked on for the past several years?" Leonard laughed, though not as boastfully as he had before.

"You don't have a choice, as long as I have something to say about it! Besides, what do you hope to accomplish from mass genocide?"

"That doesn't concern you," she spat firing another shot through his leg, sending an unbelievable amount of pain through his system.

"I'm afraid it does," he grunted, reaching down to his pocket. "And the more you anger me, the worse it's going to be for you!"

"What are you going to do?" she laughed. Dan slammed his fist into his leg, making a loud, electronic beep sound throughout the school grounds. Seconds later, every car began exploding in a chain of fire. Takano turned her attention back away from Dan, and stared in horror as the rest of her forces began going up in smoke. Raising himself painfully to his feet, he collapsed on Takano's back, bringing them both to the ground. A small clinking sound rattled on the floor, making Takano's eye's fly open even wider in horror.

"I"ll see you in hell, bitch!"

"NO---!" The grenade exploded, tearing the two of them to pieces. At that exact moment, Shion and the others had ran out the backdoor of the school, and saw the flash of light. They ran over to see where Dan was, but couldn't find him anywhere. Keiichi recognized Dan's revolver, soaked red, several feet away.

"Shion, look over here," he said weakly holding it out in his hands. Both Rena and Shion dropped to their knees, and began sobbing openly.

Minutes later, Oishi showed up with a large portion of the police force, as well as Rika, Satoko, and Mion. Mion ran up to her sister, and gave her a large hug.

"Have you seen Dan?" she asked, hopefully. When she didn't answer, and handed her his gun, she assumed the worst, and also began crying.

"What happened here tonight?" Oishi asked. "By the looks of it, I'd say Dan was here, though this is much messier than I've ever seen before."

"He's dead…" Keiichi stammered. "He died trying to protect everyone."

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"I wish I wasn't," Keiichi said, quite choked up. "I don't know why he had to blow himself up like that!"

"What?" Oishi asked, flabbergasted. "He committed suicide? That doesn't make much sense."

"I know," Keiichi responded, "He was a bit crazy, but never suicidal."

"He must have seen it as the only way out," Oishi said, scratching his head.

"Sir! I found this!" one of the rookies called, brining Oishi a small leather wallet. Upon opening it, he saw Dan's ID, and other identifying documents.

"This is his alright," he said, looking through it still. "What's this?" Unfolding a small piece of paper, he recognized Dan's handwriting. He called the others around, and began to read it.

"Hey,

If you're reading this, it probably means that I'm no longer here. For that, I apologize, and wish that it wasn't so. I know those words don't offer much comfort right now, and you must have already thought about them several times already. Believe me, I wasn't planning on going out so early in life, but it kind of comes with the life I chose to live. Oishi certainly knows I could have made several better decisions than I have up to this point.

The only things I don't regret is the fact that I got to come over here to Japan, and meet such good friends. I'm sorry that I wasn't the best, and that I wasn't always there for you. Please know that if I had another chance, there would be several things I would have changed, and tried to make better.

Oishi, there is a large document I have written, hidden back in Rika and Satoko's house, explaining what I was able to figure out regarding the case you've been dealing with for the past five years. Though I didn't have all the details worked out, I think I have enough to prove that it was someone else that I might have taken with me to the grave. Please verify it, and make sure that I'm right. I'd like to at least put that to rest.

To all my friends, especially Mion, know that I love you, and I hope only for the best for each of you. Please don't worry about me if I'm gone. I will see you all in the life to come. Please be good to each other, and

Sincerely,

Dan"

"That idiot," Rika complained, looking at the letter as Oishi passed it around.

"What was he thinking," Oishi thought. "I can't believe this…"

"I don't want to kill the mood, but I do believe Dan asked us not to worry too much about him," Shion said.

"How can you say that?" Mion asked, stung by the abruptness of her sister.

"Because he asked us to. Don't be so smug as to think that you're the only one hurting right now. I just met him, but I still wish he wasn't gone. Hoping to the contrary won't change what's already happened."

"…Don't expect me to be over this anytime soon," Mion said, getting back in the car Dan borrowed, which was surprisingly unscathed. "I'm going home. Does anyone want a ride?" Everyone nodded, and left Oishi and his men to clean up. While they were driving away, Hanyuu appeared in the back window of the car, and tapped on Rika's shoulder.

"I wasn't sure if he was going to pull it off," Hanyuu said

"He wasn't supposed to die," Rika thought, glaring holes into Hanyuu's skull

"Auu auu…"

"This isn't over, this isn't the ending I'll accept!"

"What are you going to do?"

"Start over, one more time. You just make sure Dan's back!"

"That might be a problem," Hanyuu thought to herself. "I'll see what I can do…"

The End

Well, there's another chapter for the history books. I've got about two chapters left in my head, and I'll see what I can do to make it a good story for those who have been kind enough to read so far.

I did need to apologize for the fact that I had Dan focus mainly on a relationship with Mion, as I was asked to focus on Rena. I had already begun writing it with the intent of having it that way before I got the request. Though, I certainly can make that change in the future.

Please read and review, and I'll see you next time!

J-Bob


	3. Author's Note 02

Everything Ends

Author's Note # 02

**Hey there,**

** So, here's my sad story – I began writing this last years, and I got quite a good distance into it. Then, Murphy's Law decided to kick into effect, and my thumb drive that I had the story on became corrupted! What's the best part? NO BACKUP, OF COURSE! Why would I do something silly like that? :'(**

** Luckily, I had the outline of the chapter in tact somehow, on an old thumb drive I've had for years, and still works like a champ, so I'm not completely without hope. Unfortunately, I am coming up on graduation, and the workload is almost impossible to see the end of, so progress of this story will be delayed. I am quite stubborn, however, and I will not quit until I see the end of this! **

** So, sorry to those who were expecting a story in a few weeks – normally I would be finishing it up right now, but since I'm writing this letter, things obviously didn't go according to plan. I will get this out as quickly as possible.**

**Thanks for your patience **

**J-Bob The Brave**


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